******WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD********

Day 1 - Skamperoo obtains first emerald necklace
Day 3 - Matiah delivered to Skamperoo "as the afternoon of the second day
drew to a close" - Chalk arrives - Jo King and High Boy consult - Dorothy
and the Scarecrow plan the celebration of discovery of Oz by mortals
Day 4 - Skamperoo decides to conquer Oz in AM ("just as the castle clock
tolled seven") - he makes Pinny Penny king, and Pinny Penny banishes Matiah
- Matiah arrives at Deadly Desert at "nightfall" - first day of the great
celebration (visitors begin to arrive "shortly after noon" and festivities
continue until "the sun had begun to slip down behind the treetops") -
celebration interrupted during Grand Banquet & Ozma, Wizard, Jinnicky, rulers
of 4 countries disappear - Dorothy & Pigasus flee to Winkie country in evening,
flying for "several hours" - night in summer house - Banquet lasts "till
long after three o'clock"
Day 5 - Skamperoo & Chalk breakfast in garden ("it was still fairly
early") - second day of great festival, including circus, picnic, fireworks
- Matiah steals necklaces at night - Dorothy & Pigasus cross Winkie River at
noon, blunder into Black Forest - afternoon and dinner with Gloma - they are wished
to Ev "as the black banjo clock in the corner of the hall struck a musical
ten" - night in Kaliko's chambers
Day 6 - Skamperoo misses necklaces before breakfast - Matiah hides in sub-basement
- Kaliko welcomes Dot, Pigasus after breakfast - directs travelers, offers them
limited assistance - Dorothy & Pigasus fly all day "with only a short
pause for lunch" - arrive at Dooners in time for supper, meet Dooners at night
- visit Bitty Bit after escaping from Dooners, night in tower
Day 7 - Dot & Piggins breakfast with Bitty Bit - they travel to EC,
arriving "just as the soft musical gong sounded the call for luncheon"
- Skamperoo & Chalk negotiate - Ozites restored - Skamperoo returns to Skampavia
Day 8 - Dorothy tells Ozma the secret of the wishing emeralds at "the
end of the second day"

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Mon Apr 1, 2002 8:35 am
Subject: WISHING HORSE celebration
Some Thompson's books make it obvious what title by Baum (or herself) she's
reviewed before writing: OJO summarizes PATCHWORK GIRL, for instance.
WISHING HORSE recalls Baum's ROAD, but not in the same way. In fact, it's
clear that Thompson did NOT reread ROAD shortly before writing WISHING
HORSE. She refers to "Zixie [sic] the little queen," who appears in ROAD
and her own book as a tall woman [22]; a "cheerful King of Merryland"
rather than Queen Dolly [23]; and Noland as an unpopulated desert, with no
mention of King Bud [20, 22].
Rather, in WISHING HORSE Thompson appears to try the same thing that Baum
did in ROAD: to bring a smorgasbord of characters from past books together
to unify and celebrate her output. As in ROAD, there's a banquet and a
parade featuring characters not only from the Emerald City but from many
other books--including even such obscure or distant characters as Grumpy
the bear and King Ato. Plus, one character who can't make it--Happy Toko
from ROYAL BOOK--sends fireworks [85].
When Baum wrote ROAD, he expected his next Oz book to be his last. By
reintroducing some old Oz characters (e.g., Jack Pumpkinhead, Crooked
Magician, royal family of Ev) and bringing in people from his other
fantasies (Santa Claus, John Dough, Candy Man), he was serving himself both
literarily and financially. David L. Greene's afterword to the Oz Club
edition of WISHING HORSE hints that Thompson was thinking about winding
down her series as well. Her author's note promises only "Another Oz book
maybe, if you still want one."
With such a celebratory chapter 6, I had to concentrate to note which
friends of Ozma DON'T appear, and there are some surprises on that list. At
the top is her father Pastoria, along with Snip, Pajuka, Humpy, and the
rulers of Kimbaloo. The lost king is even supposed to be living in the
capital. Neither Carter Green or King Evered of Rash make the scene. The
Iffin from JACK PUMPKINHEAD is on hand, but that book's happy couple are
no-shows. The Pumperdink royal family attends, but not King Randy of
Regalia. Thompson breaks her usual pattern of mentioning characters from
her most recent book by leaving out the Umbrellians. And of course she
continues to ignore many of Baum's second-tier celebrities, even those whom
he left living in Ozma's palace: Button-Bright, the Shaggy Man, the
Frogman, the Tin Soldier, Cap'n Bill, and so on.
One odd and unforeseen result of Thompson's choices is that her Pastoria
remains completely under copyright protection, while other characters
brought back for WISHING HORSE have slipped into the public domain TO THE
EXTENT THAT SHE DESCRIBES THEM HERE. Thus, any author can state that Ojo is
the son of the king of Seebania, but the name of that king, the location of
Seebania, and how they came to be reunited are still copyright-protected.
The celebration may also offer clues to otherwise unspecified Ozian
history. It's meant to commemorate the discovery of Oz by the Wizard and
Dorothy [82]. Usually such celebrations are on anniversaries tied to the
century calendar, and Ozians' immortality implies they'd have no reason to
speed up that pattern. If it's been 50 years since the Wizard arrived in
Oz, for instance, that would mean there were about 15 years between his
arrival and Dorothy's.
There are hints of a few more untold stories in this parade:
* Trot and Betsy are "Princesses in their own right" as well as Dorothy
[86]. Is Thompson referring to their honors from Rash, Sky Island, and the
Ozure Isles? Or might she mean they were all princesses of Oz by this time?
* Cheeriobed, despite having been menaced for decades by Quiberon, brings a
dragon to the Emerald City [93]. This dragon is blue [101] and male [108],
and must have a story of some sort.
* Ozma has chosen a float "formed like a sea-shell," with attendants in
white gowns [104], both details reminiscent of Botticelli's Venus. Why
would the ruler of a landlocked nation present herself as connected to the sea?
* Thompson says Notta Bit More is from Philadelphia [85]. She doesn't say
that in COWARDLY LION, but that book has other mentions of the Philadelphia
area. Bob Up is said to come either from the city itself or from the
Stumptown orphanage, and there's a Stumptown in southeastern Pennsylvania.
At some points, Thompson's description of people at the celebration
conflicts with statements elsewhere in the Oz series. The Hungry Tiger has
to "buy" food [91]. The Woozy is said to be made of wood [92]. The
Scarecrow seems out of character in these chapters: expressing stage fright
[88], "breathless" [100], and unusually pessimistic about the Soldier's
beard [109--compare this to his supposedly cheery response to the fat men
from the sky in SPEEDY].
In some important ways Thompson uses the "Great Celebration" to much better
effect than Baum used Ozma's birthday party in ROAD. In the earlier book,
the celebrations were spectacular, but their only role in the storyline was
as a long anticlimax. Thompson puts her parade near the START of the book.
And just when all that celebrating starts to get boring, she brings
Skamperoo and Chalk smack down in the middle of it. The nearly complete
review of Thompson's Oz turns out to serve the narrative tension in two
ways: it shows us precisely what's at stake in this battle over who rules
Oz, and it emphasizes how isolated Dorothy is in her memory of Ozma.
Thereafter, the plot becomes not Dorothy's attempt to get TO Oz, as in
ROAD, but rather to escape from it.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: Stephen Teller <steller at p...>
Date: Mon Apr 1, 2002 11:44 am
Subject: THE WISHING HORSE
We have finally got to THE WISHING HORSE OF OZ, my favorite Thompson Oz
book (I know I am not alone in this.) I thought I would post a few
comments on it by way of explanation.
1. Skamperoo is not your typical Oz villain; he is hedonistic, lazy,
discontented and envious--but he is not evil or wicked. He has no
intention of harming his victims or his new subjects. He is also one of
the few characters in Thompson who actually show growth (Tandy in
CAPTAIN SALT is another). Finally neither he not anyone else is
punished at the end of the book, no "drop of water at the bottom of the
Nonestic Ocean" washing out, or transformations into cacti or seabirds
or other things.
2. Chalk is able to defend his actions to Dorothy as an example of
loyalty. Why should his loyalty to Skamperoo be less admirable than
Dorothy's to Ozma?
3. The scene with Gloma is very instructive for Dorothy. Here is a
witch who is afraid of Dorothy because of her reputation as a witch
destroyer (and considering her tradtment of Notta it seems justified).
Gloma may seem like a villain for a time, but she is acting in self-defence.
4. This book is remarkable low in Irrelevant Episodes. Except for
the Dooners there is nothing that does not related directly to the main
action.
I do have one problem with this book. Everything else gets explained,
but Why do the Soldier with the Green Whiskers' whiskers suddenly turn
red? It is necessary so that Dorothy can take the wishing pill, but no
reason is ever given.
Steve Teller

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Mon Apr 1, 2002 9:14 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE celebration
J. L. Bell:
>Some Thompson's books make it obvious what title by Baum (or herself) she's
>reviewed before writing: OJO summarizes PATCHWORK GIRL, for instance.
>WISHING HORSE recalls Baum's ROAD, but not in the same way. In fact, it's
>clear that Thompson did NOT reread ROAD shortly before writing WISHING
>HORSE. She refers to "Zixie [sic] the little queen," who appears in ROAD
>and her own book as a tall woman [22]
Maybe she means "little" in the sense of "young," rather than physically small.
>and Noland as an unpopulated desert, with no
>mention of King Bud [20, 22].
That bothered me as well. My guess would be that, when trying to find a
location for her new country, Thompson looked at the map, and, forgetting
that Noland was the setting for most of QUEEN ZIXI, considered it from its
name to be a sort of "no-man's land." Indeed, Skampavia borders on both Ix
and Merryland, and to the north is nothing but "a strip of sandy desert" and
the Nonestic Ocean. Considering that he only mentions a "strip," and that
Skampavia is (according to Pinny Penny) about one-fiftieth the size of Oz,
this presumably means that the "Noland" area is not very large at all,
according to this book. It is interesting, however, that both Noland and Ev
are given northern seashores, which are not shown on the TIK-TOK maps, but
fit with the idea that the Roly-Rogues floated to the sea from a river in
Noland. In her next book, Thompson makes it clear that Oz is surrounded by
"a narrow rim" of countries, and then the Nonestic Ocean, making the
Contintent of Imagination rather small for a continent.
>With such a celebratory chapter 6, I had to concentrate to note which
>friends of Ozma DON'T appear, and there are some surprises on that list. At
>the top is her father Pastoria, along with Snip, Pajuka, Humpy, and the
>rulers of Kimbaloo. The lost king is even supposed to be living in the
>capital. Neither Carter Green or King Evered of Rash make the scene. The
>Iffin from JACK PUMPKINHEAD is on hand, but that book's happy couple are
>no-shows. The Pumperdink royal family attends, but not King Randy of
>Regalia.
Pompadore, Peg Amy, and Kabumpo all attend, but King Pompus and Queen Pozy
Pink do not, and the young couple apparently left their daughter at home
with her grandparents. The fact that Randy did not attend is mentioned in
SILVER PRINCESS, and becomes evidence of the standards held by the Grand
Duke Hoochafoo, but, if Thompson intended CAPTAIN SALT to be her last Oz
book, then this was probably not planned. It shows better observation on
Thompson's part than does CAPTAIN SALT, however, in which King Ato and Roger
insist that they have not seen Samuel Salt since the end of PIRATES, yet
they are clearly mentioned as attending the celebration in WISHING HORSE.
One possible explanation that I thought of is that Ato, Roger, and the
Captain left Oz during Skamperoo's short reign, and that this somehow
confused them.
>Thompson breaks her usual pattern of mentioning characters from
>her most recent book by leaving out the Umbrellians. And of course she
>continues to ignore many of Baum's second-tier celebrities, even those whom
>he left living in Ozma's palace: Button-Bright, the Shaggy Man, the
>Frogman, the Tin Soldier, Cap'n Bill, and so on.
Did the Frogman actually settle in the Emerald City? Maybe I am missing
something, but I do not recall there being any mention of this at the end of
LOST PRINCESS, and GLINDA refers to him as being a "guest of honor." Why
would he be considered a "guest" if he lived in the city? MAGIC says that
he "had come from the Yip country to be present at Ozma's birthday
feast."
>The celebration may also offer clues to otherwise unspecified Ozian
>history. It's meant to commemorate the discovery of Oz by the Wizard and
>Dorothy [82]. Usually such celebrations are on anniversaries tied to the
>century calendar, and Ozians' immortality implies they'd have no reason to
>speed up that pattern. If it's been 50 years since the Wizard arrived in
>Oz, for instance, that would mean there were about 15 years between his
>arrival and Dorothy's.
That would hardly be enough time for the Wizard to grow from a "young man"
to a "very old man," would it? Perhaps it is more likely that WISHING HORSE
takes place at the thirty-fifth anniversary of Dorothy's arrival.
>* Thompson says Notta Bit More is from Philadelphia [85]. She doesn't say
>that in COWARDLY LION, but that book has other mentions of the Philadelphia
>area. Bob Up is said to come either from the city itself or from the
>Stumptown orphanage, and there's a Stumptown in southeastern
Pennsylvania.
According to MapQuest, Stumptown is near Lancaster. This is in southeastern
Pennsylvania, but I would not see why the orphanage director would have
taken the orphans sixty miles from Philadelphia to Stumptown in order to see
a circus. Or is there another Stumptown of which I am unaware?
Incidentally, another character not mentioned as attending the celebration
is Nickadoodle, despite the fact that he moved in with Notta and Bob at the
end of COWARDLY LION.
Nathan

From: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 1:02 pm
Subject: Wishing Horse
J.L. Bell & Steve Teller & Dave Hardenbrook: Enjoyed your discussions of
"Wishing Horse." Steve comments that Skamperoo is not wicked. He does have
his wicked moments in his willingness to steal emeralds and to get rid of
inconvenient people by exile/permanent coma. His avoidance of outright
killing might be considered a point of virtue, but it's so hard to kill
Ozites anyhow, that it's not clear if this moderation is the result of any
goodness in him. But certainly he lacks the vengeful temper of Mombi or
Ruggedo, and his growth by the end of the story to be able to find happiness
in his own back yard seems plausible. A possible explanation for why the
Soldier's green whiskers turn red (and alert Dorothy to take her precautious
wish) -- maybe RPT was assuming that the reason his whiskers are green must
be magical, and that the magic producing his green whiskers might react to
magical attack to produce this effect, even though the explanations of how
he came by that magic and just how it works are not given.
Ruth Berman

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 4:30 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] THE WISHING HORSE
Steve Teller:
>Finally neither he not anyone else is
>punished at the end of the book, no "drop of water at the bottom of the
>Nonestic Ocean" washing out, or transformations into cacti or seabirds
>or other things.
Actually, the eagle who brings Matiah to Oz is turned into a sparrow.
Nathan

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 4:33 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE celebration
Dave Hardenbrook:
>Monday, April 01, 2002, 5:35:51 AM, J. L. Bell wrote:
>
>JLB> She refers to "Zixie [sic] the little queen," who appears in ROAD
>JLB> and her own book as a tall woman [22]...
>
>She certainly has the "Little girl" fixation doesn't she?
Baum described Zixi as appearing to be about sixteen years old, so I would
assume she means "little" in the sense of "young," rather than "physically
small."
>So why is she given the last word on Ozma?
Who says she is?
Nathan

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 5:21 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] Wishing Horse
Ruth:
>Steve comments that Skamperoo is not wicked. He does have
>his wicked moments in his willingness to steal emeralds and to get rid of
>inconvenient people by exile/permanent coma.
Skamperoo defends his theft of the emeralds by pointing out that he is King,
and can do what he wants. He does, however, allow Matiah to live in the
castle, rather than simply locking him up in prison, as a more traditional
villain (Irasha of Rash, for instance)might have done to someone with a
grudge like Matiah's. Note that Pinny Penny starts out by supporting
Matiah's claim that Skamperoo owes him a home and a living, but later,
suspecting the merchant's treachery and learning that he is "not so poor as
he pretends," suggests that Skamperoo throw him out.
>His avoidance of outright
>killing might be considered a point of virtue, but it's so hard to kill
>Ozites anyhow, that it's not clear if this moderation is the result of any
>goodness in him.
We really don't know how much power the emeralds have, anyway. The text
seems to suggest that they can grant ANY wish, but they must have some
limitations. No one ever tries to use them to destroy anyone, so whether
they have that power remains a mystery. Similarly, if Skamperoo simply
wished to be recognized by all Ozites as their rightful ruler, would there
really have been any need to remove Ozma and the other royal families?
Removing these people was Matiah's idea, and he did not know how to work the
emeralds, but perhaps he guessed that they might have their limits, and so
came up with the other ideas in case they were not quite powerful enough to
accomplish the simple wish. It was probably also Matiah's idea to imprison
the Ozites in Thunder Mountain. Skamperoo seems rather poorly versed in
geography, and had probably never heard of this mountain. Note that Pigasus
seems to have heard of it (he knows it has "thunder bolts," for instance),
but does not know where it is located.
Gloma identifies the emeralds as being "green magic." This is appropriate
for green gems, but the fact that they work in Skampavia seems to contradict
Mombi's statement in LOST KING that green magic only works in the Emerald
City territory. My guess is that green magic just has to ORIGINATE in that
area (or possibly another "center" of green magic, if any others exist).
There is really no reason to believe that Wam was NOT in the green area when
he made and enchanted the necklaces.
Chalk knows that Skamperoo brought him into existence, but also that he
comes from Oz. If his existence really began in Skampavia, there is no way
he could be "from Oz." Perhaps he was an Ozian horse whose memories of Oz
were erased when he was summoned by magic (a similarity could be made here
with Nox the Ox, who remembers living in a blue forest before coming to
Keretaria, but his memory is cloudy on this point), or any animal brought
into existence by Ozian wishing necklaces considers itself to be an Ozian
animal, even if it has never actually been to the fairyland.
>But certainly he lacks the vengeful temper of Mombi or
>Ruggedo, and his growth by the end of the story to be able to find
>happiness
>in his own back yard seems plausible.
Skamperoo has some similarities to Ruggedo, including his figure, his
tantrums, his tendency to throw his sceptre at his chief servant, his love
of jewels, and, of course, his ambition to conquer Oz. The King of
Skampavia is much more sympathetic than the Nome King, however.
>A possible explanation for why the
>Soldier's green whiskers turn red (and alert Dorothy to take her
>precautious
>wish) -- maybe RPT was assuming that the reason his whiskers are green must
>be magical, and that the magic producing his green whiskers might react to
>magical attack to produce this effect, even though the explanations of how
>he came by that magic and just how it works are not given.
Perhaps, although there are other characters in Thompson's Oz books with
oddly-colored hair (Grand Duke Hoochafoo and his purple beard, for
instance), with no indication that this hair is magical, or even unusual in
Oz.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 10:38 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE comeuppance
Stephen Teller wrote:
<<Skamperoo is not your typical Oz villain; he is hedonistic, lazy,
discontented and envious--but he is not evil or wicked. He has no
intention of harming his victims or his new subjects. He is also one of
the few characters in Thompson who actually show growth (Tandy in CAPTAIN
SALT is another). Finally neither he not anyone else is punished at the
end of the book, no "drop of water at the bottom of the Nonestic Ocean"
washing out, or transformations into cacti or seabirds or other
things.>>
Pigasus tries to turn Chalk and Skamperoo into clams, a wish Dorothy
instinctively opposes [268]. As you say, the book's two main villains not
only continue to enjoy their own bodies, but even come out ahead with a
more prosperous kingdom and eternal friendship [297].
For many of her villains, Thompson has Ozma or someone else punish them
with transformation, captivity, or near destruction. Only a few so far are
allowed to remain not only intact but actually on their thrones: Mustafa,
the Sultan of Samandra, and Skamperoo. What distinguishes this group from
the unlucky majority (J. Glegg, Irashi, Gorba, the pirates, etc.)? Thompson
hints that each of the exceptional three is more childish than evil
(Skamperoo is "like a big bad baby" [29]). But their actions, objectively
measured, seem just as bad. How does Skamperoo taking over Oz differ from
Mooj taking over Seebania?
I think the three exceptional villains earn their lenient desserts because
they:
1) are already kings.
2) don't try to marry any princesses by force or stealth.
In Thompson's plots, it seems, a commoner or lesser noble usurping a king's
place and/or forcing himself on a princess becomes guilty of a "capital"
crime. Unlike Baum, she rarely deposes an established ruler, no matter how
much he's oppressed his people or preyed on neighbors.
It's notable that Thompson has Gloma state, "I ruled by royal right and
inheritance" [175]. She's not the foresters' queen because she's wise,
caring, and protective; she's their ruler by accident of birth, and--lucky
for them--happens to be wise, caring, and protective. Whatever his faults
and misdeeds, Skamperoo still has a hereditary claim on the throne of
Skampavia.
As for Matiah, third-place villain in WISHING HORSE, Ozma seems to decide
that he was wronged, or at least that he shouldn't suffer worse than his
king. His kidnapping and torture of Iva [253] seem not only to be forgiven,
but to be completely overlooked. (I wonder if this episode might have been
worse for the kitchen boy than Thompson lets on. She tells us Matiah spent
his first day in the palace basement making wishes while he wore the
necklaces, but he's known since page 63 that someone else must be wearing
them. Iva might thus have suffered much more than a "miserable morning"
under Matiah's control [254]. And he gets no comfort from his ruler or
Dorothy [268].)
Rather than punish Matiah, Ozma merely wishes him back to Skampavia with no
memory of the emerald necklaces [288]. He no longer has any property there
[38], but he might try to rebuild his trading business. We have to wonder,
however, what Skamperoo, Chalk, and Pinny Penny will do when they see their
old rival again. They don't know of Matiah's amnesia, and have every reason
to distrust him.
Ozma does punish one creature for his actions in WISHING HORSE, though he's
done no wrong to her or anyone else that we see. Matiah "bribed a red eagle
with the promise of three wishes" to carry him to Oz [251]. After Bitty Bit
speaks of the giant bird's "exceedingly fierce look in his eye," Ozma turns
the eagle into "a harmless sparrow" [288]. Neill provides quite a scary
picture of this eagle in star-spangled overalls [252], but we never see him
do anything that deserves transformation.
Thus, Iva and the eagle come out of the book worse than how they started
without having done anything to deserve those fates. Matiah is a little
worse off. Skamperoo is much better off despite being selfish and grasping,
but we're supposed to be happy about that because he's going to rule his
kingdom more wisely. Wouldn't leaving Skampavia in the hands of Pinny Penny
be just as good? Not in Thompson's world.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 2, 2002 10:38 pm
Subject: princesses
Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
<<JLB> There are hints of a few more untold stories in this parade:
JLB> * Trot and Betsy are "Princesses in their own right" as well as Dorothy
JLB> [86]. Is Thompson referring to their honors from Rash, Sky Island, and the
JLB> Ozure Isles? Or might she mean they were all princesses of Oz by this time?
It's funny how as a kid I always took Betsy and Trot's "Oz Princess" status
for granted, even though Baum never gives any indication of this, and I had
no access to Thompson's books.>>
I bet you were trying to make sure none of the little girls feel left out.
As the Dodo says in ALICE IN WONDERLAND, "All must have prizes."
Because Dorothy performs much more significant service to Oz as a whole and
to Ozma's court than Betsy and Trot, her having a unique title never
bothered me. And she's not the type to lord (lady?) it over her friends.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Wed Apr 3, 2002 9:17 am
Subject: WISHING HORSE coincidences
Stephen Teller wrote:
<<I do have one problem with this book. Everything else gets explained,
but Why do the Soldier with the Green Whiskers' whiskers suddenly turn red?
It is necessary so that Dorothy can take the wishing pill, but no reason
is ever given.>>
This is one of three amazing coincidences that come early in WISHING HORSE,
and on which the whole plot rests.
1) Skamperoo and Matiah just happen to be doing the right things at the
right time to make the magic emeralds conjure up Chalk [44]. But if the key
to the necklaces' power is that "On the sixth count, you wink both eyes"
[290] and people blink many times a minute automatically, why aren't casual
wishes coming true all the time?
2) Chalk knows the secret of the necklaces naturally because they created
him [78]. This rule doesn't seem to pertain to any other creature brought
into existence or brought to life through a particular form of magic in the
Oz books. In addition, while Chalk instinctively knows he's "from Oz" [47],
he "knew little of Oz" [212].
3) The Soldier's "sacred beard" turns red in time for Dorothy to take the
wishing pill [109]. This hints at some deeper order of magic protecting Oz,
which we never hear of before or since. Dorothy's wish--"Whatever happens,
help me to save Ozma and Oz" [113]--seems like an odd response from her,
and unconventionally phrased to boot. But I guess it works.
On the other hand, the resolution of the WISHING HORSE plot doesn't depend
on coincidences the way many other Oz books do. Iva the kitchen boy brings
the emerald necklaces into the Wizard's lab at a significant moment [267],
but he's just gotten free from Matiah because of Dorothy's blacking powder
[287], so that's actually a neat plot twist. And when a book ends more
tightly than it begins, coincidences are a lot easier to forgive.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: tyler.jones at a...
Date: Wed Apr 3, 2002 11:03 am
Subject: WISHING HORSE and powers
>
We really don't know how much power the emeralds have, anyway.
> The text seems to suggest that they can grant ANY wish, but
> they must have some limitations.
The same can pretty much be said of all wishing magic, at least
in the Oz series. Every item that grants wishes appears to have
unlimited powers, but it's reasonable to assume that they're only
as strong as the magic-worker who made them, so that not only
should they have limits, but it's possible that some wishes are
stronger than others.
As for the changing of the beard color on Omby Amby, which
alterted Dorothy to take the pill, the only thing I can think
of is that the wish was stretched thin by the need to alter the
minds of nearly half a million people, so that some "glitches"
were bound to occur.
Tyler Jones

From: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date: Wed Apr 3, 2002 2:07 pm
Subject: Re: Wishing Horse, markets, Easter Bunny
"Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...> suggested
" Maybe she means [Zixi is] "little" in the sense of "young," rather than
physically small.<
It would be a nice explanation, but with meaning of "young" for "little"
listed in the dictionary (a Webster's Collegiate is the one I have to hand),
it seems too Humptydumptyish an approach to be valid.
>That [Noland as an unpopulated desert, with no mention of King Bud]
bothered me as well. My guess would be that, when trying to find a
location for her new country, Thompson looked at the map, and, forgetting
that Noland was the setting for most of QUEEN ZIXI, considered it from its
name to be a sort of "no-man's land." <
Probably so, but it's at least possible that she meant that the part of
Noland bordering on Skampavia was unpopulated desert, rather than that all
of Noland was a desert. (I don't have my copy here to check, but think that
the contexts allow such a reading.)
> King Ato and Roger [in CAPTAIN SALT] insist that they have not seen Samuel
Salt since the end of PIRATES, yet they are clearly mentioned as attending
the celebration in WISHING HORSE. One possible explanation that I thought of
is that Ato, Roger, and the Captain left Oz during Skamperoo's short reign,
and that this somehow confused them. <
Maybe, but maybe we should imagine an unrecorded chunk of dialogue: "Well,
we SAW him in Oz -- " "But you don't get a chance for a proper good talk in
a crowd like that! THAT doesn't count."
Nice set of points you made about various aspects, by the way.
Ruth Berman

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Wed Apr 3, 2002 3:13 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE reconciling Baum and Thompson
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<Did the Frogman actually settle in the Emerald City? Maybe I am missing
something, but I do not recall there being any mention of this at the end
of LOST PRINCESS, and GLINDA refers to him as being a "guest of honor."
Why would he be considered a "guest" if he lived in the city? MAGIC says
that he "had come from the Yip country to be present at Ozma's birthday
feast.">>
The last mention of the amphibious one in LOST PRINCESS is ambiguous:
The Frogman speedily became a favorite at the
Emerald City and the Shaggy Man and Tik-Tok and
Jack Pumpkinhead, who had now returned from their
search, were very polite to the big frog and made
him feel quite at home.
Baum seems to have been leaving the door open for him to settle in the
capital permanently, as so many other Ozian grotesques have done.
The Frogman appears in the Emerald City in two of Baum's three books after
LOST PRINCESS, while the third has no significant scenes in that setting.
Therefore, I enjoy the impression that the Frogman, while still officially
resident among the Yips, is a guest who never leaves, happily finding new
reasons to extend his visit. ("A birthday party? Well, I must stay for
that.") And who would want to go back to being a big frog in a small pond
after he's seen the Emerald City?
Baum actually implies something similar about the Cookie Cook:
Cayke's mission was now successfully accomplished,
but she was having such a good time at the Emerald
City that she seemed in no hurry to go back to the
Country of the Yips.
In any event, if the Frogman travels to the Emerald City for Ozma's
birthday party in MAGIC, which is a private affair, he'd probably have been
invited to the large, public celebration in WISHING HORSE--had Thompson
ever cared to mention him.
<<If it's been 50 years since the Wizard arrived in
>Oz, for instance, that would mean there were about 15 years between his
>arrival and Dorothy's.
That would hardly be enough time for the Wizard to grow from a "young man"
to a "very old man," would it? Perhaps it is more likely that WISHING HORSE
takes place at the thirty-fifth anniversary of Dorothy's arrival.>>
Our culture doesn't make a big deal about 35th anniversaries, however. We
celebrate quarter-centuries and a few anniversaries that seem significant
because of the human lifespan (40th, 60th). Since Oz is a land of
immortality, those latter don't apply.
As I recall, some people seem to doubt what the Wizard says about how much
he's aged in the Emerald City because of how late Omaha was founded. But
the whole period is shrouded in mystery. My suggestion was just one way of
possibly making the numbers add up.
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<>She refers to "Zixie [sic] the little queen," who appears in ROAD
>and her own book as a tall woman [22]
Maybe she means "little" in the sense of "young," rather than physically
small.>>
Though Zixi appears young, according to the Wizard in ROAD is "thousands of
years" old. That's such a central detail of her character in ZIXI that
Thompson must have been stumbling in the dark to characterize her as "the
little queen." I think it's easier to treat this and her description of
Noland as mistakes rather than seek a way to reconcile her statements with
what Baum tells us.
<<>and Noland as an unpopulated desert, with no
>mention of King Bud [20, 22].
That bothered me as well. My guess would be that, when trying to find a
location for her new country, Thompson looked at the map, and, forgetting
that Noland was the setting for most of QUEEN ZIXI, considered it from its
name to be a sort of "no-man's land.">>
I think so, too.
Thompson does seem to have reviewed WIZARD before writing WISHING HORSE, to
judge by the importance she places on Dorothy's witch-killing history and
the Good Witch of the North's kiss in chapters 10 and 11.
Interestingly, when Dorothy explains this kiss, she makes no mention of how
it came from an enchanted queen who's now among the missing royals.
Thompson also has Dorothy avoid referring to the Wicked Witch of the West
as such because this book puts the Winkies in the east. One last notable
ripple from Baum is that Dorothy is explicit and apparently unrepentent
about what motivated her to throw water at the Wicked Witch: "I got SO mad"
[167].
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Wed Apr 3, 2002 4:59 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE ethic
Stephen Teller wrote:
<<2. Chalk is able to defend his actions to Dorothy as an example of
loyalty. Why should his loyalty to Skamperoo be less admirable than
Dorothy's to Ozma?
3. The scene with Gloma is very instructive for Dorothy. Here is a witch
who is afraid of Dorothy because of her reputation as a witch destroyer
(and considering her tradtment of Notta it seems justified). Gloma may seem
like a villain for a time, but she is acting in self-defence.>>
Among Oz books, WISHING HORSE is unusual not just in how it presents
Dorothy's main antagonists (Skamperoo, Chalk, Gloma, Kaliko) with some
sympathy, but also in how it shows her engaging in deceit and strategy. We
might think of this as almost the first spy novel in the Oz series, as
Dorothy undertakes a secret mission to save her country. And spy novels
often have murky moral underpinnings.
Early on, Pigasus warns, "Remember, we must be very careful. No questions
about Ozma. . . . We must pretend that we've forgotten, too" [128]. In
short, Dorothy must learn to dissemble, not to be direct. She also sneaks
into Ozma's sitting room and the Wizard's laboratory to take their magic,
only to discover the usurpers have anticipated them [129]. Later the pair
force themselves to listen quietly to a lot of false memories about emperor
Skamperoo from a Winkie [142]. Realizing that in the Black Forest she's
considered a witch, Dorothy makes threats about transforming people [163];
in most Oz books Dorothy is honest to a fault, but to restore Ozma to her
throne she's ready to bluster.
Dorothy is also ready to make tough alliances. When Pigasus suggests
visiting some countries outside Oz (all from one swath on the TIK-TOK map),
Dorothy focuses on the most powerful. She puts off Pigasus's suggestion of
Ev [144] in favor of visiting Kaliko the Nome King, who has magic [143] and
a "hundred thousand trained Gnomen Yoemen [sic]" [194]. Dorothy thinks she
and Ozma helped put Kaliko on his throne [141], which doesn't reflect the
events in TIK-TOK, but privately Kaliko agrees that Dorothy taking the
Magic Belt from Roquat "was the means of my becoming King" [194].
Dorothy seems to believe that this unpaid favor and her charm will win over
Kaliko. She seats herself "coaxingly on the arm" of his throne [197], a
gesture she also performs with Gloma [176] and Glinda [282]. Dorothy then
tells Kaliko all about Oz's new king, revealing how weak her hand is.
Obviously, Dorothy has more to learn about sizing up potential allies. We
might see this back when she takes a Winkie to be "a person of some
importance," based seemingly on height and gait, and there's no
confirmation she's right [138]. This man, to her disappointment, remembers
nothing about Ozma or the Tin Woodman.
Thompson makes us privy to Kaliko's real thoughts through his discussions
with his new chamberlain. Shoofenwaller asks, "Why not use a little
strategy in this conference, King? Why not pretend to help her and at the
same time safeguard your own interests?" [194] That's what Dorothy's been
learning to do, but Kaliko has had years of experience. Soon after learning
about Skamperoo, the Nome King is sure Oz's new ruler will be less
concerned than Ozma with the diplomatic issue we now call human rights.
Kaliko even seems to be looking ahead to not having to worry about "the
rights of smaller Kingdoms" [203].
Thus, while Dorothy is pleased with Kaliko's promise of his army if she
finds another ally first, we know that's just a delaying action [197]. All
she really gets are the dangerous location where Ozma and her fellow rulers
have been stashed and Potaroo's stumbling-blocks, which turn out not to be
useful in Oz. Thompson emphasizes this diplomatic deceit with a bit of
racism, comparing Kaliko and Shoofenwaller to "two little China
mandarins" [203].
Given Dorothy's naivete when it comes to power politics, she's very lucky
to bump into Bitty Bit. His great power is, after all, perception.
Symbolically, it's also relevant that the rescuers gain the upper hand in
Ozma's palace through the powder of darkness: in this book, concealment is
power. Dorothy's plans are still "rather vague, but Bitty Bit knew just
what he hoped and intended to do" [259]. He reaches a bargain with Chalk
for negotiations [260]. He shows that he knows Skamperoo's weakness and
threatens "WAR!"--knowing that projecting "firm confidence" is crucial in
such diplomacy [264].
Chalk, however, is expert in this sort of realpolitik. Back in his first
conversation with Skamperoo, he showed how he could figure out Matiah's
bluff [73]. When the emerald necklaces disappear, he insists that he and
the king must behave normally [247]. Chalk bargains and bluffs "firmly but
pleasantly" with these intruders, rendering Bitty Bit "rather crestfallen"
by not surrendering [264-5]. The talks reach a stalemate.
After Pigasus secures the magic necklaces, Chalk continues to talk as
confidently as ever, but he also starts his endgame. He probably realizes
he has much less chance of recovering those necklaces now, and Bitty Bit
might eventually see their secret. "We'll just be trotting along," Chalk
says [269]. Dorothy is indignant, but Bitty Bit acknowledges that the horse
still holds some powerful cards--knowledge of how to work the necklaces,
plus all Ozians' loyalty. He therefore agrees to quite generous surrender
terms [271].
Even then, Chalk has another trick up his saddlebags. Given two wishes,
Chalk does what every eight-year-old can recognize as a cheat: he wishes
for more wishes [272--in David Hulan's GLASS CAT, I recall, a genie
specifically rules out this possibility]. But, as Bitty Bit foresees, Chalk
doesn't take advantage of those two wishes to send Dorothy, Pigasus, and
Bitty Bit to the bottom of Lightning Lake. Instead, he sticks to the spirit
of his settlement as well as the letter, securing a safe retreat for him
and Skamperoo back to Skampavia.
The overall ethic of WISHING HORSE seems to be a relativism rare in
Thompson's Oz. When Dorothy calls Chalk "the horridest horse I've ever
known!" [269] , he replies:
"Well, that's all in the way you look at me. . . . You, my dear,
are fond of your Mistress, Queen Ozma of Oz, and are trying to help her. I,
on my part, am exceedingly fond of my Master, the King of Skampavia, and am
trying to help him. You can't blame me for that, you know." [270]
Dorothy herself voiced a similar sentiment in forgiving Gloma: "You thought
we were going to destroy you, so, of course, you tried to destroy us. That
was fair enough and I don't blame you" [174]. Skamperoo, Matiah, and
Twobyfour were all trying to cheat each other in the same way.
Indeed, WISHING HORSE's main message seems to be that most people act in
their self-interest, and therefore shouldn't be blamed for that. While
people's sense of self-interest can expand when they make close friends
[70, 206], Thompson fills little space showing people who adhere to a
higher ethos; Ozma, Glinda, and the Tin Woodman are all far away. Indeed,
Thompson shows appeals to other people's sense of goodness as having
limited value, and loyalty as malleable.
That leaves a bittersweet edge to the final chapter which, unlike in most
Oz books, is set not only in another country but in the antagonist's
country. We're supposed to be happy to see Skamperoo and Chalk reform, but
do their changes signal anything different about the power of
self-interest? Thompson shows Pinny Penny's legal reforms as bringing
greater rewards than before [292]. Skamperoo's experience in Oz has made
him capable, with "a great effort," of one "really great and wise decision"
[295], but it takes magic to make Skamperoo permanently "wise and generous"
[296-7]. Except for Ozma and a few other rare rulers, it appears, being
wise and generous is unnatural.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: David Hulan <davidhulan at n...>
Date: Thu Apr 4, 2002 11:31 am
Subject: The Soldier's Beard
A possibility - never stated, but not implausible - for the reddening of
the Soldier's beard might be that it was, in fact, a direct wish of
Skamperoo/Chalk's. Take a look at the consequence - Ozma, the Wizard,
Jinnicky, and the rulers of the four quadrants of Oz all left the
banquet to retire to Ozma's throne room for a conference. As a result,
instead of their disappearing right in front of all the assembled
guests, they're replaced in the throne room by Skamperoo and Chalk, who
then return to a banquet full of Ozites who think they're the rightful
rulers. Possibly that latter spell would have been less effective if the
true rulers had been replaced right in front of everyone. I don't know
that that's what Thompson had in mind, but it makes a certain amount of
sense.

From: "atticus242" <atty993 at a...>
Date: Thu Apr 4, 2002 11:44 am
Subject: Re: WISHING HORSE coincidences
---
In Nonestica at y..., "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...> wrote:
> This is one of three amazing coincidences that come early in WISHING HORSE,
> and on which the whole plot rests.
>
> 1) Skamperoo and Matiah just happen to be doing the right things at the
> right time to make the magic emeralds conjure up Chalk [44]. But if the key
> to the necklaces' power is that "On the sixth count, you wink both eyes"
> [290] and people blink many times a minute automatically, why aren't casual
> wishes coming true all the time?
I think this is a question of semantics. A "wink" is deliberate and
more pronounced, unlike the involuntary and subtler "blink."
Skamperoo had his eyes deliberately closed when Chalk appeared.
> 3) The Soldier's "sacred beard" turns red in time for Dorothy to take the
> wishing pill [109]. This hints at some deeper order of magic protecting Oz,
> which we never hear of before or since. Dorothy's wish--"Whatever happens,
> help me to save Ozma and Oz" [113]--seems like an odd response from her,
> and unconventionally phrased to boot. But I guess it works.
Since the changing of the beard is an incident that basically affects
only Dorothy _directly_, I attribute it to the Good Witch's kiss,
which later helps her against Gloma.
Atticus

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Thu Apr 4, 2002 12:46 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE and powers
Tyler Jones wrote:
<<The same can pretty much be said of all wishing magic, at least in the Oz
series. Every item that grants wishes appears to have unlimited powers, but
it's reasonable to assume that they're only as strong as the magic-worker
who made them, so that not only should they have limits, but it's possible
that some wishes are stronger than others.>>
When he learns how Dorothy used one of his wishing pills, the Wizard says
proudly, "I'll match my wishing powers with any wishing powers in the
country!" [280]. That indeed implies that there can be various levels of
power behind a wish. So does the Magic Belt's limitation in LOST PRINCESS
of granting only one wish of unlimited power per day.
In the battle of wishes in WISHING HORSE, however, Skamperoo's and
Dorothy's wishes are quite different in scope. Skamperoo wants to instill
false memories in an entire population. Dorothy's wish simply allows her to
keep her own wits. If the Wizard's wishing pills were truly as strong as
the necklaces, they could grant wishes as far-ranging as what the necklaces
provide, and I don't think we ever see them do that. They usually work on
the person who takes them, and perhaps a few others nearby.
Also, I'm not convinced that the power of a wish-granting device depends on
the magic-worker who created it. In the real world, the power of a machine
doesn't depend on the strength of its inventor, nor the value of an insight
on how well its formulator exemplifies it. (In the latest NEW YORKER, Adam
Gopnik writes about this in regard to Karl Popper, suggesting that
philosophers may actually describe human nature in ways that make up for
what they lack in real life.)
Bini Aru, for instance, comes up with *pyrzqxgl*, an extremely powerful
charm. MAGIC says he was a "clever Sorcerer," but there's no indication he
was one of the most powerful magic-workers ever to live in Oz. Similarly,
Dr. Pipt's potions are very strong, but the rest of his life indicates
limited powers. People might create magical devices by finding ways for
them to channel natural magic, and the power of the device would depend on
how efficiently the inventor could harness that ambient power.
<<As for the changing of the beard color on Omby Amby, which alterted
Dorothy to take the pill, the only thing I can think of is that the wish
was stretched thin by the need to alter the minds of nearly half a million
people, so that some "glitches" were bound to occur.>>
This reading seems to imply that Skamperoo's wish was itself the cause of
the Soldier's follicle change, but the magic necklaces seem to grant wishes
instantaneously. There has to be some time lag between the beard changing
color and Skamperoo's arrival as emperor for Dorothy to take her pill. That
leads me to think the beard change had to be the result of some unknown
magical force sensing a threat to Oz, rather than a side effect of
Skamperoo's own wish.
But since the beard change is never explained, not even by Ozma, we really
can't tell.
Had Skamperoo known more about Oz, he'd have realized there was no need to
remove Omby Amby along with Ozma's other supporters. The Soldier with the
Green Whiskers has served three rulers of the Emerald City with no more or
less loyalty, and would no doubt have been just as amenable to magical
brainwashing as nearly everyone else in Oz.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 11:09 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE comeuppance
J. L. Bell:
>Rather than punish Matiah, Ozma merely wishes him back to Skampavia with no
>memory of the emerald necklaces [288]. He no longer has any property there
>[38], but he might try to rebuild his trading business. We have to wonder,
>however, what Skamperoo, Chalk, and Pinny Penny will do when they see their
>old rival again. They don't know of Matiah's amnesia, and have every reason
>to distrust him.
This is all true, which seems to suggest that Ozma should have thought out
his punishment more carefully. Besides, Ozma should know from her
experiences with Ruggedo that magically-produced amnesia is not always
effective.
Nathan

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 11:20 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] Re: Wishing Horse
Ruth:
> >That [Noland as an unpopulated desert, with no mention of King Bud]
>bothered me as well. My guess would be that, when trying to find a
>location for her new country, Thompson looked at the map, and, forgetting
>that Noland was the setting for most of QUEEN ZIXI, considered it from its
>name to be a sort of "no-man's land." <
>
>Probably so, but it's at least possible that she meant that the part of
>Noland bordering on Skampavia was unpopulated desert, rather than that all
>of Noland was a desert. (I don't have my copy here to check, but think that
>the contexts allow such a reading.)
That would probably be the best way to reconcile the book with what we
already know of Noland, and it seems to be what Haff and Martin were
thinking when they placed Skampavia in the southeastern corner of Noland
(meaning that, in their interpretation, it does NOT directly border on Ix).
In the actual text of WISHING HORSE (pp. 22-23), however, Thompson writes:
"To the north there was nothing but a sandy strip of desert and the tossing
waters of the Nonestic Ocean. East lay the Kingdom of Ix, and Zixie [sic]
the little Queen he considered too pleasant and friendly to conquer.
Besides, the climate of Ix was not that much better than that of his own
country. To the west of Skampavia was Merryland...To the south lay the
burning sands of the Deadly Desert, which no man in his own Kingdom had ever
succeeded in crossing."
The next paragraph says that Skamperoo had "exhausted all the possibilities
in his immediate neighborhood." He does not consider Bud's Kingdom of
Noland to be a possibility, and the fact that Skampavia's nearest neighbors
are Ix, Merryland, the Deadly Desert, and "a sandy strip of desert" to the
north suggests that Thompson had forgotten all about it.
Note that Skamperoo does not want to conquer Zixi because she is "too
pleasant and friendly," rather than because of her known magical powers and
her country's military might.
Nathan

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 11:29 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE Nomes
J. L. Bell:
>Soon after learning
>about Skamperoo, the Nome King is sure Oz's new ruler will be less
>concerned than Ozma with the diplomatic issue we now call human rights.
>Kaliko even seems to be looking ahead to not having to worry about "the
>rights of smaller Kingdoms" [203].
This might possibly be a reference to Dorothy's rescue (with Ozma's
blessing) of the King and Queen of Pingaree in RINKITINK. I can't think of
any instance in the Oz books when Ozma involved Kaliko in a war, however.
Speaking of Nomes, Dorothy mentions (p. 143) that "Ruggedo who was King
before Kaliko had many magic treasures and powers. He could make floors and
walls spin round and round, open yawning caverns at your feet or drop rocks
down on your head without even moving." Doesn't Kaliko himself demonstrate
knowledge of these powers in RINKITINK? Not if you consider the King in
RINKITINK to actually be Ruggedo (as I know J. L. does), but the
aforementioned reference to Pingaree suggests that this is not the
interpretation that Thompson had in mind. I think it is likely, however,
that, even if Kaliko was the Nome King during RINKITINK, most of the magic
tricks he used were ones left behind by Ruggedo, rather than ones he
developed himself.
Pigasus' comparison of Nomes to eggs is a clever bit of irony (if that's the
correct term).
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 11:42 am
Subject: The Soldier's Beard
David Hulan wrote:
<<A possibility - never stated, but not implausible - for the reddening of
the Soldier's beard might be that it was, in fact, a direct wish of
Skamperoo/Chalk's. Take a look at the consequence - Ozma, the Wizard,
Jinnicky, and the rulers of the four quadrants of Oz all left the banquet
to retire to Ozma's throne room for a conference. As a result, instead of
their disappearing right in front of all the assembled guests, they're
replaced in the throne room by Skamperoo and Chalk, who then return to a
banquet full of Ozites who think they're the rightful rulers. Possibly that
latter spell would have been less effective if the true rulers had been
replaced right in front of everyone.>>
Logically ingenious, but the text doesn't make much room for this
interpretation. Only the Wizard and Jinnicky follow the Soldier with the
Formerly Green Whiskers out of the throne room. "Ozma, looking rather
troubled, again took her place and motioned for the others to do the
same" [111].
The Tin Woodman, Glinda, the Munchkin and Gillikin rulers, and Ozma all
seem to vanish from their seats, right in the middle of the crowd [114-6].
No one but Dorothy notices--not even Corum and Pompadore, who are seated on
either side of the "great dragon armed chair of state" at the empty head of
the table [116]. (That chair belongs to Skamperoo in the new Ozian order.
Everyone but Dorothy presumably must believe that all the other empty seats
never held people--even those seats with half-eaten meals in front of them.
Hmmmm.)
Dorothy does first think that Nick "is probably helping the Wizard" [114].
Oddly, however, she doesn't have that same thought for Glinda, who'd be
more likely to help out in a magical crisis. Did Chalk or the necklaces
themselves really create the beard incident to provide the Ozians with a
way to explain away the sudden disappearances in the backs of the minds? If
so, it completely backfired. Without the Soldier's beard changing color,
Dorothy wouldn't have made her counteracting wish.
Atticus Gannaway wrote:
<<Since the changing of the beard is an incident that basically affects
only Dorothy _directly_, I attribute it to the Good Witch's kiss, which
later helps her against Gloma.>>
Again ingenious, going in the opposite direction from David Hulan's idea.
He emphasizes how the beard changing color provoked a direct response from
not only the Soldier, but also the Wizard and Jinn. And if the Scarecrow
didn't voice such a dire interpretation of that event [111], Dorothy
wouldn't have taken the wishing pill.
We do have to wonder if the Good Witch's kiss would have kept Dorothy from
being brainwashed (brainwished?) even without the Wizard's pill. But since
Skamperoo's wish is less harmful than some other fates Dorothy does
suffer--being transformed in MAGIC, for instance--the kiss may offer quite
limited protection. Its power may, for instance, last only against the
spells of Winkie witches.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: KHarmonyarts at a...
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 7:39 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] The Soldier's Beard
In a message dated 4/5/2002 5:17:01 PM Central
Standard Time, JnoLBell at compuserve.com writes:
We do have to wonder if the Good Witch's kiss
would have kept Dorothy from
being brainwashed (brainwished?) even without the Wizard's pill. But since
Skamperoo's wish is less harmful than some other fates Dorothy does
suffer--being transformed in MAGIC, for instance--the kiss may offer quite
limited protection. Its power may, for instance, last only against the
spells of Winkie witches.
In 'Wizard,' the Good Witch of the North states "...I will give you my
kiss, and no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of
the North." In 'Wizard,' the Flying Monkeys are afraid of the kiss on
Dorothy's forehead, too. "We dare not harm this little girl," he said
to them, "for she is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater
than the Power of Evil." Sounds like the kiss may protect Dorothy from
being harmed by others with evil intent. Presumably the kiss does not protect
our heroine from accidents. The WWW gets one of Dorothy's Silver Shoes by
turning a metal bar invisible, and setting it down where Dorothy could trip
over it. And it works. But Dorothy destroys the Witch shortly after, so even
arranging an accident may have brought down instant vengeance on the WWW from
the Powers of Good. Also, Dorothy gets a tooth knocked slightly loose from
being thrown out of the sandboat in 'Road.' So the kiss does not protect
her from accidents. Or presumably spells that don't injure her outright.
Melody

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Fri Apr 5, 2002 9:56 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Skampavia
The first thing we learn about Skampavia is that it's an "unprofitable and
barren" land [18]. Soon it becomes clear that the country is also low on
magic, unlike other regions outside the Deadly Desert that Thompson
describes. On hearing about Oz, Skamperoo complains that it's "one of those
magic places where one just snaps the fingers to get what he wants" [33].
The two clear signs of an especially magical country in the Nonestic region
seem to be talking animals and immortality. Skamperoo speaks of "my
father's lifetime" [212], implying that Skampavians know death. Pinny Penny
seems nostalgic when he recalls hearing about the Emerald City from his
father [28]. Skamperoo, Matiah, and Pinny Penny are all surprised to hear
Chalk talk [47, 56].
Skampavia is also a small country. Adding up the county tax collectors'
territories on page 19, I get only 218 square miles as its total area. (As
Nathan DeHoff noted, the usually reliable Pinny Penny says Oz is "about
fifty times as large" as Skampavia [30]. That would make Oz around 11,000
square miles, or the equivalent of 88 miles by 125 miles.) The Skampavian
army contains 4,900 fighting men [34], or about 22 per square mile. The
best comparison I could find is Switzerland's military reserves in 1975,
who came about 25 to the square mile.
But, of course, Switzerland is a wealthy nation, and Skampavia a poor one.
Even the tax collector Twobyfour wants to take his family to "some cooler
and more comfortable country" [26]. Yet the king insists on taxing his
people at a 33% tax rate [18], and the only good and services he appears to
provide in return are weapons, uniforms, and military training at the
"Royal College" [19]. (It's unclear what kind of school the king himself
went to [21], but it doesn't seem to have done him any good.) When Pinny
Penny takes over as regent, he reduces the tax rate to 5% and cuts back on
the militia drilling time, both to good effect [292]. Thompson thus seems
to be making a comment about both overtaxation and militaristic states.
There were certainly a lot of militaristic states in the mid-1930s to
inspire Thompson. And Neill's drawings of Skamperoo have long reminded me
of contemporary caricatures of Mussolini, especially in the color plate
opposite 276. The Italian fascist didn't actually order an invasion of any
country until late 1935, after Neill had finished these pictures. Might
that have meant Mussolini was still seen as a harmless buffoon earlier? Or
is the resemblance just coincidence?
I also wonder if Thompson was inspired a bit by Franklin Roosevelt. For a
dedicated Republican, FDR's hold on the American people might have seemed
as baffling and frustrating as Skamperoo's popularity among the Ozians. In
that case, Thompson's portrayal of Skampavia as a country with a farming
crisis and overly high taxes could be a comment on New Deal America.
Certainly Thompson presents the key to economic success in the language of
a 1920s Republican, coming from Pinny Penny. According to the dour prime
minister, Skampavia is "not so unfortunate and poor as we are unwise and
greedy" [29]. Ozma has made her land rich "by encouraging thrift and
rewarding industry" [31--a marked contrast to Baum's EMERALD CITY portrayal
of a fairyland where the ruler owns ALL goods, not just a third, and makes
them available according to need].
We also have to read Matiah's complaints about losing his livelihood
against the backdrop of the Depression. Pinny Penny offers to find work for
him, but the merchant refuses menial jobs in the palace. "I will start a
war, an uprising--a revolution!" Matiah warns. Although the merchant has
been unjustly deprived of his property, Thompson shows little sympathy for
his plight--especially if he's going to talk like that and refuse work.
Up until nearly the end of WISHING HORSE, Pinny Penny remains as skeptical
of magic as he is of talking horses, turbaned merchants, and lazy people.
He insists, "Any wish you work hard enough for will come true" [294].
Nevertheless, when offered the chance he makes a magical wish to change
Skampavia's climate and soil to "mild and fertile" [297]. That seems to be
Thompson's acknowledgment that a nation may show any amount of diligence,
but only magic can change some bases of its economy.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Sat Apr 6, 2002 1:21 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE and powers
J. L. Bell:
>Had Skamperoo known more about Oz, he'd have realized there was no need to
>remove Omby Amby along with Ozma's other supporters. The Soldier with the
>Green Whiskers has served three rulers of the Emerald City with no more or
>less loyalty, and would no doubt have been just as amenable to magical
>brainwashing as nearly everyone else in Oz.
When Skamperoo first hears that Omby Amby is Ozma's entire army, he says, "I
never heard anything more ridiculous in my life (p. 33)," yet he still
decides to remove him, presumably just to cover all his bases. I don't
think Skamperoo specified that he wanted Omby Amby in particular to be
banished to Thunder Mountain, just "Ozma's army." In fact, it seems likely
that Skamperoo's wish named general categories, rather than specific
individuals. Jinnicky ends up being enchanted with the others, but, even if
Skamperoo (or Matiah) knew about Jinnicky, they would have no way of knowing
that he was in Oz and trying to help the Ozites. The wish probably just
mentioned "all licensed wizards" (assuming that Jinnicky had some kind of
license at the time) or "the wizard in the Emerald City" (there would have
been two there when Skamperoo made his wish). Why High Boy vanishes with
the others is a bit of a mystery. Skamperoo certainly did not banish all
royal pets, or Cheeriobed's dragon and Glinda's swans would most likely have
been sent to Lightning Lake as well. One possibility I considered is that
Joe King (possibly influenced by King Pompus and Kabumpo) made High Boy a
Prince of the Gillikins. On the other hand, Trot, honorary Princess of the
Munchkins, remains in Oz, even though Philador (Munchkin Prince by birth)
disappears. Then again, Joe King and Queen Hyacinth seem to have no
children, so maybe High Boy is their heir. We really have no way of
knowing.
A possibility someone on this list suggested is that Chalk purposely removed
High Boy so that he would not have competition from another horse (the only
other horse to have an Oz book named after him, up until MERRY GO ROUND).
This is an interesting possibility, although how Chalk would have known that
any of the quadrant rulers had horses at all, let alone a giant purple one
who once helped to save the Ozure Isles, remains a mystery.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Sat Apr 6, 2002 1:17 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Nomes
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<>Soon after learning
>about Skamperoo, the Nome King is sure Oz's new ruler will be less
>concerned than Ozma with the diplomatic issue we now call human rights.
>Kaliko even seems to be looking ahead to not having to worry about "the
>rights of smaller Kingdoms" [203].
This might possibly be a reference to Dorothy's rescue (with Ozma's
blessing) of the King and Queen of Pingaree in RINKITINK. I can't think of
any instance in the Oz books when Ozma involved Kaliko in a war,
however.>>
I can imagine three explanations for Kaliko's statement, all based on the
fact that we know about the Nomes almost entirely through reports from Oz,
its often hostile neighbor.
First is the likelihood that the Oz books don't mention every example of Oz
pressuring the Nomes to do something. In both TIK-TOK and RINKITINK the
Nome King(s) resent and fear interference from Ozma and/or Dorothy,
implying there are incidents we've never read about. Perhaps for the Ozians
those incidents weren't terribly adventurous, and therefore not good book
material. Perhaps they wouldn't show Oz in a good light. But there are
strong hints of unwritten history there.
The second possibility is that the Nomes interpret the incidents we do know
about differently from how Ozians, and thus we readers, see them. Consider,
for instance, how the Nomes might look back on the arrival of the Shaggy
Man, Tik-Tok, and Queen Ann Soforth's army in TIK-TOK. From such easily
available sources as Baum's book, they'd learn or be confirmed in knowing
that:
a) All those invaders are from Oz (though they've picked up some
camp followers from elsewhere).
b) Two were quietly transported to the Nomes' region by Ozma, the
rest by her close ally Glinda.
c) The Shaggy Man is equipped with magical devices from the Emerald City.
d) After they help overthrow the Nome King, they're all transported
back to comfortable homes in Oz.
From a suspicious Nome's point of view, that could well add up to looking
like a covert operation by Oz, aimed at provoking Ruggedo into a response
that brings a crushing blow from Tititi-Hoochoo.
Similarly, think of HUNGRY TIGER, in which Kaliko is suddenly confronted
with a ravenous jungle beast from the Emerald City. And in GNOME KING and
PIRATES, Ruggedo, who has lived in Oz for years, pops up on Kaliko's
doorstep, in one case demanding the crown back. From Kaliko's point of
view, Oz may be trying to undermine his rule.
The third factor is that WISHING HORSE is never clear about what sources
Thompson uses to describe the Nomes' secret conversations. Kaliko clearly
snookers Dorothy, so she wouldn't be a reliable source. If Thompson is
merely filling in the blanks from such Ozian sources as the Great Book of
Records, she may not report the Nome King's words as exactly as she reports
Dorothy's.
<<Speaking of Nomes, Dorothy mentions (p. 143) that "Ruggedo who was King
before Kaliko had many magic treasures and powers. He could make floors
and walls spin round and round, open yawning caverns at your feet or drop
rocks down on your head without even moving." Doesn't Kaliko himself
demonstrate knowledge of these powers in RINKITINK? Not if you consider
the King in RINKITINK to actually be Ruggedo (as I know J. L. does), but
the aforementioned reference to Pingaree suggests that this is not the
interpretation that Thompson had in mind.>>
I'd indeed noted this statement as a hint that Dorothy knew the Nome King
who used those magical spells during the events that led to RINKITINK was
Ruggedo, not Kaliko.
As for whether there's an "aforementioned reference to Pingaree," I don't
think that's certain. Kaliko complains that Ozma is "always involving me in
wars, or demanding the rights of smaller Kingdoms" [203-4]. He seems to
have multiple incidents in mind, and an ongoing pattern of behavior (at
least in his eyes), rather than the one example we know about.
The king in RINKITINK might indeed be using older magic from his
predecessor. Nonetheless, Dorothy seems to be making a distinction between
Ruggedo and Kaliko, who she knows "has a wizard" [143--Potaroo appeared in
GNOME KING] and magic of his own.
<<Pigasus' comparison of Nomes to eggs is a clever bit of irony (if that's
the correct term).>>
Yes, and since Kaliko thinks of ham when he sees Pigasus [191], they're
obviously not going to become best pals. Pigasus does, however, offer a
cheer for Kaliko when his wizard's stumbling blocks work [222].
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date: Sun Apr 7, 2002 11:27 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE Skampavia
"J. L. Bell" wrote:
> There were certainly a lot of militaristic states in the mid-1930s to
> inspire Thompson. And Neill's drawings of Skamperoo have long reminded me
> of contemporary caricatures of Mussolini, especially in the color plate
> opposite 276. The Italian fascist didn't actually order an invasion of any
> country until late 1935,
-- there was the earlier Fiume affair, generally identified with him,
though he seems to have had little to do with it.
> after Neill had finished these pictures. Might
> that have meant Mussolini was still seen as a harmless buffoon earlier?
In America, he was.
--
John W. Kennedy
Read the remains of Shakespeare's lost play, now annotated!

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Sun Apr 7, 2002 5:06 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE kiss and spell
Melody Grandy wrote:
<<> We do have to wonder if the Good Witch's kiss would have kept Dorothy from
> being brainwashed (brainwished?) even without the Wizard's pill. But since
> Skamperoo's wish is less harmful than some other fates Dorothy does
> suffer--being transformed in MAGIC, for instance--the kiss may offer quite
> limited protection. Its power may, for instance, last only against the
> spells of Winkie witches.
In 'Wizard,' the Good Witch of the North states "...I will give you my
kiss, and no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch
of the North." In 'Wizard,' the Flying Monkeys are afraid of the kiss on
Dorothy's forehead, too. "We dare not harm this little girl," he said to
them, "for she is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than
the Power of Evil." Sounds like the kiss may protect Dorothy from being
harmed by others with evil intent. Presumably the kiss does not protect our
heroine from accidents.>>
I agree that the kiss appears to offer Dorothy little protection against
accidents. At the same time, the evil intent of Kiki Aru in MAGIC and Mooj
in OJO is clear, and they successfully transform Dorothy. If the kiss
protects Dorothy just from being intentionally physically harmed, then it
offers a limited defense for a traveler in a magical country.
Even in WIZARD, the Good Witch's kiss comes into play only with the Winged
Monkeys, then under the magical control of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Some other characters see the mark, but it doesn't deter the Kalidahs,
counteract the Poppies, or otherwise smooth Dorothy's way in that book.
Then it disappears from the series until WISHING HORSE, when the kiss
protects Dorothy from the spells of another witch in Winkie Country, and
also turns out to protect pigs she happens to be squeezing.
Another wrinkle in trying to understand this charm is that, while the
Wicked Witch of the West is by definition wicked, both Dorothy and Thompson
reject that label for Gloma. The black witch doesn't seem to be exercising
"the Power of Evil"--yet the kiss thwarts her nonetheless. The Monkeys'
understanding of the wish's moral underpinnings may be too stark.
At the same time, Gloma seems to be trying only some of her spells: those
intended to destroy Dorothy physically. She could probably send Dorothy far
away since she later proves she can do such magic [184]. Had she chosen to
transform Dorothy, the precedents imply that she could have succeeded. But
she chose the spells to destroy Dorothy--not really confirmation of
blameless intent.
Gloma's spells are, incidentally, among the most visually striking and
scary that Thompson ever described: "red hot sparks"; "a hundred, huge,
hideous, black snakes [with] green glittering eyes lighting up the room";
"a shower of silver arrows"; and "a cloud of choking green smoke" [172].
The phosphorescent green eyes reappear later on the Dooners [220], so
Thompson must have had them in her mind--perhaps in her nightmares.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Sun Apr 7, 2002 5:06 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE horses
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<A possibility someone on this list suggested is that Chalk purposely
removed High Boy so that he would not have competition from another horse
(the only other horse to have an Oz book named after him, up until MERRY GO
ROUND). This is an interesting possibility, although how Chalk would have
known that any of the quadrant rulers had horses at all, let alone a giant
purple one who once helped to save the Ozure Isles, remains a
mystery.>>
When the Hungry Tiger is planning the animals' part of the Great
Celebration, he comments, "quite a lot of horses, aren't there?" [92] And
indeed there are.
Chalk dominates the book, from its front cover to its final chapter, of
course. The first Ozian we see is High Boy [81--or, as it's spelled in this
book, Highboy]. The parade includes Stampedro and Roganda [103]. Most
surprisingly, "eight prancing black horses" pull the chariot of Ato, King
of the Octagon Isles [103]; I don't recall any horses mentioned there in
PIRATES. Dorothy tries to interrupt Hokus (who comes on a camel) and
Pompadore (whose experience is really with riding elephants) during "a
long, earnest argument about horses" [116]. Nearly every king or prince is
interested in horses, Thompson seems to say.
One of the strangest equine moments in WISHING HORSE is when "Chalk beat
the Sawhorse in their long, exciting race through the park" [249]. A long
race implies that the Sawhorse's untiring legs would be even more of an
advantage. Perhaps because he's no longer Ozma's steed, the Sawhorse is not
as dogged in winning races, or he's willing to lose one to the emperor's
favorite. But the fact that the swift Sawhorse remains while High Boy is
sent away adds to the overall mystery of Skamperoo's wish.
And what exactly is a "wishing horse"? On page 294, in the final chapter,
Thompson has Pinny Penny quote the old saying, "If wishes were horses,
beggars would ride." But in that situation beggars did the wishing. And for
most of the book, Skamperoo does the wishing. Chalk doesn't voice his own
wishes until the confrontation with Bitty Bit, and then he makes the last
wish of the book [272, 297]. Grammatically, that implies that a "wishing
horse" is mostly the equivalent of a "riding horse"--the horse itself
doesn't do that action, but its owner does the action on it.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Mon Apr 8, 2002 12:46 am
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE horses
J. L. Bell:
>The parade includes Stampedro and Roganda [103]. Most
>surprisingly, "eight prancing black horses" pull the chariot of Ato, King
>of the Octagon Isles [103]; I don't recall any horses mentioned there in
>PIRATES. Dorothy tries to interrupt Hokus (who comes on a camel) and
>Pompadore (whose experience is really with riding elephants) during "a
>long, earnest argument about horses" [116]. Nearly every king or prince is
>interested in horses, Thompson seems to say.
There is no clear indication that the "shabby but comfortable open coach" of
Ragbad and the Silver Coach of Seebania are drawn by horses, but it seems
likely. We don't see much of Seebania, but Ragbad, from what we see of it
in GRAMPA, doesn't seem to have any horses, or other animals that could draw
a coach. Perhaps they were imported from a nearby country that does have
them.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 9, 2002 1:30 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE horses
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<There is no clear indication that the "shabby but comfortable open coach" of
Ragbad and the Silver Coach of Seebania are drawn by horses, but it seems
likely.>>
Yes, while reading Thompson's description of the procession in WISHING
HORSE, I kept feeling we were supposed to infer some form of locomotion for
all those floats. Jinnicky's jinrikisha presumably moves under its own
power, as we see in other books, and Tik-Tok has a mechanical hand car.
Ozma's shell is pulled by the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger, and a couple
of other mounts are named. But for the rest, on page 104 Thompson refers to
"Royal Equipages," implying that horses were pulling every vehicle.
Already, it seems, she was depicting Oz as old-fashioned compared to
America, where parades were using horseless carriages.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date: Wed Apr 10, 2002 9:54 am
Subject: wishing horse/equipages
"J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...> wrote:
> Nathan DeHoff wrote: <<There is no clear indication that the "shabby but
comfortable open coach" of Ragbad and the Silver Coach of Seebania are
drawn by horses, but it seems likely.>>
> Ozma's shell is pulled by the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger, and a couple
of other mounts are named. But for the rest, on page 104 Thompson refers to
"Royal Equipages," implying that horses were pulling every
vehicle. <
Likely enough -- but it wouldn't actually have to be specifically horses for
all royal equipages. I have this picture in my head of a friendly Kalidah
who promises faithfully not to eat any of the spectators if allowed to come
be in the parade and pull a float and be cheered by all. For a Special
Effect, maybe the Queen of the Mice could send a thousand or so mice to pull
one, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman could show off their special skills
in fast-order rolling of grass into strings and knot-tieing and
mouse-harnessing. (Perhaps with little teeny mouse-collars for each, so's
they can pull hard without getting choked.) Llamas, anyone?
Ruth Berman

From: David Hulan <davidhulan at n...>
Date: Wed Apr 10, 2002 11:19 am
Subject: WISHING HORSE Horses
J.L.:
> Already, it seems, she was depicting Oz as old-fashioned compared to
> America, where parades were using horseless carriages.
But horses in parades were certainly common in America in 1935, though
autos were also used. I think they're still not unusual, although I
haven't been to a parade (aside from artificial ones like those at
Disneyland) in a good many years. But in the early 1950s when I was in
the high school band and participated in a good many parades, I can
assure you that there were plenty of horses, both ridden and driven; one
had to be quite wary of where one stepped because of that... :)

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Thu Apr 11, 2002 1:07 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE horses
Ruth Berman wrote:
<<I have this picture in my head of a friendly Kalidah who promises
faithfully not to eat any of the spectators if allowed to come be in the
parade and pull a float and be cheered by all.>>
I wouldn't volunteer to march in front of that float.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date: Mon Apr 15, 2002 10:47 am
Subject: wishing horse
In "Wishing Horse," unlike a bunch of the Oz books immediately preceding,
NONE of the color plates are close duplicates of b&w illos. The closest one
comes to duplicating is the color plate of Bitty Bit's tower, similar in its
serpentine expansion to the version in the b&w illo. But the color plate
shows Bitty Bit popping out the open skylight to greet Dorothy and Pigasus,
and in the b&w they have all just vanished into the tower through the
skylight. This is one of the books where few skies are blue. This plate has
an orange sky, and some of the others are yellow or green -- makes an
attractive change from the usual. Speaking as we were of types of parade
locomotion, Neill has a nice portrait of the Wizard stepping along on his
rubber sphere. (You'd think he'd be about to fall off, as shown, but perhaps
there's a touch of magic involved. Or maybe one really good high backstep is
about to be stepped.) Although none of the color plates duplicates a b&w
shot, none of them shows an otherwise unpictured character. There's an
otherwise unpictured place in the color plate of the disappeared VIPs asleep
at the bottom of Thunder Lake. (Which, by the way, is an Unexplored Place,
for those collecting them.)
I happened to look up Lorna in the dictionary, and was interested to see
that as a name (non-Ozianly speaking), it was apparently invented by the
author of "Lorna Doone."
Ruth Berman

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 16, 2002 3:13 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE art
According to David Greene's afterword for the Oz Club edition of WISHING
HORSE, Neill was very late in supplying its pictures. He was supposed to
deliver around the start of 1935 (which would have put him on the same
schedule as for SPEEDY), but still hadn't finished by June. That's why this
Oz book, alone of all those he illustrated, has no endpapers.
Greene blames the haste of putting together WISHING HORSE for the
upside-down drawing of the Scarecrow pole-vaulting [106] and some
misspellings. But this is far from the first book in which Reilly & Lee let
those mistakes go by. On the other hand, a late start might be responsible
for what Thompson seems to have seen as disappointing sales: 5,700 copies
in its first year.
Does anyone who knows Neill's history have an explanation for the delay?
Was he moving house at this time, facing an illness or family crisis, or
perhaps overcommitted to other jobs?
As in the previous few Oz books, it takes a number of pages at the start
before Neill draws us a familiar face. Skamperoo and Chalk on the cover are
new, and the king not terribly appealing (though to horse fans Chalk makes
up for that). The frontmatter shows Matiah, Chalk, and Skamperoo and Chalk
in the plate opposite the title page. Finally the copyright, dedication,
and contents pages shows us old Oz friends: Pigasus, the Scarecrow, and
Scraps.
Neill's design for his illustrations is very simple, especially when
compared to the chapter openers in SPEEDY. The chapter-opening drawings are
framed by a sort of arch, but that's the only distinctive element. The
drawings within chapters and the occasional full-page illustration are all
standard sizes.
frontispiece: Neill gives Skamperoo an unusual Modernist chair.
Fortunately, the emperor has wished himself a good horseman by this point;
the chair provides little support for his torso.
35: Neill did a good job here depicting some complex action that Thompson
had described. In fact, I think Neill does well by Pinny Penny throughout
the book, with a lot of emotion and character evident on pages 27 and 57.
He wisely avoids showing the minister wearing Skamperoo's crown around his
neck, as Thompson describes on page 212.
66: In contrast, Neill's portraits of Skamperoo seem quite changeable, from
the feminized lips and eyelids on this page to funny, cartoon-like images
as on page 69 to the just plain weird physiognomy on 74.
77: Neill mistakenly shows Skamperoo wearing the necklaces, when they must
be on Chalk to work. Similarly, Neill puts the necklaces in Iva's hand
[266] instead of his neck, as Thompson had described.
91: When Neill draws the "ten little kitchen boys" helping the Hungry Tiger
with his shopping, they look more like seven dwarfs. They don't look
anything like Iva, the single kitchen boy Thompson brings in later [250,
253].
99: Neill draws these Emerald City houses with street numbers, perhaps for
the first time. They reappear in WONDER CITY.
106: The Oz Club edition puts this picture in its proper orientation, with
the Scarecrow's face upside-down. That makes it clearer to see that he's
vaulting well above the level that the bar was built to reach--indeed an
"all-time record."
119: This full-page sketch encapsulates the conflict of the book, with
Dorothy shocked to find Skamperoo and Chalk on the throne. There's a nice
use of light and dark and a more awkward use of foreground and background
to symbolize the two sides' enmity. The body language is very good,
expanding on Thompson's description [118-20]. And Neill even gets an
important little detail right: Skamperoo wears Ozma's tall crown instead of
his own battered one.
143: Alongside the various "slinky Ozma" images, here's one of Dorothy
reclining that seems to depict her as a young adolescent as well.
147: This image of Dorothy and Pigasus in the dark is the first Oz book
illustration I can remember that includes speech balloons. Neill was
familiar with those from his newspaper cartooning days. Publishers today
would want the text rendered separately from the artwork to make
foreign-language editions easier, but Reilly & Lee obviously didn't worry
about that.
opp 196: The magic spyglass that Potaroo (or is that Shoofenwaller?) is
looking through is reminiscent of the one Chinda the Seer and Speedy used
in YELLOW KNIGHT. It may, however, be inspired by the one Kaliko uses in
TIK-TOK; Thompson mentions the Long-Eared Hearer briefly, so she's done
some boning up on the Nomes [189].
200: Though Thompson refers to Potaroo's "straggly whiskers" [198], both
here and in the previous color plate the Nome wizard is clean-shaven. Also,
though Kaliko has posted a sign at his back door saying, "No dogs, babies,
or chickens," Neill seems to draw a straggly dog in the Nome Kingdom.
Perhaps her name is Whiskers.
229: Neill follows Thompson's lead by dressing Bitty Bit in a "robe rather
like a monk's," but he cuts that robe short in order to get more mileage
out of the seer's legs. Perhaps to compensate, Neill leaves off the "round
cap with a yellow quill" [231] in favor of a monkish hood.
279: This is a nice picture of Dorothy on the Tin Woodman's lap, but it
also makes me wonder, Isn't she in pain? And indeed, Thompson assures us
she was "seating herself cautiously" on the tin man's leg [280] and "slid
carefully" off. To test a new scanner/printer, I colorized this image (not
with the emerald necklaces, though), and have posted the result in jpeg
form in the Nonestic Photos section for anyone who wants it.
286: It's a bit hard to make out, but Bitty Bit seems to have a right hand
on his left side here. At least I wouldn't want to try that move at home.
298: The "END" image in WISHING HORSE shows Pigasus on the back
of a horse, presumably Chalk. Since those characters were together for only a few,
hostile moments, we must assume the image is a fanciful one, like many that
Neill drew for books' frontmatter. Or perhaps it's another horse
altogether, since there were plenty of those in the Emerald City. We have
to ask if riding on Pigasus's back causes one to speak in rhyme, what's the
result of having Pigasus ride on one's own back?
Ruth Berman wrote:
<<In "Wishing Horse," unlike a bunch of the Oz books immediately preceding,
NONE of the color plates are close duplicates of b&w illos. The closest one
comes to duplicating is the color plate of Bitty Bit's tower, similar in
its serpentine expansion to the version in the b&w illo. But the color
plate shows Bitty Bit popping out the open skylight to greet Dorothy and
Pigasus, and in the b&w they have all just vanished into the tower through
the skylight.>>
Thompson describes Bitty Bit's castle as "tube-like" [225-6], which implies
she imagined it as round. Neill draws it as square, the better to fit with
a standard window on top.
<<Speaking as we were of types of parade locomotion, Neill has a nice
portrait of the Wizard stepping along on his rubber sphere. (You'd think
he'd be about to fall off, as shown, but perhaps there's a touch of magic
involved. Or maybe one really good high backstep is about to be
stepped.)>>
Thompson's text says the Wizard was on a "revolving green ball" [101].
Neill and his colorist render the ball in multiple colors, the better for a
plate (and the ball's not really revolving, either).
The Scarecrow is also rolling on a ball on the WISHING HORSE
dedication page, though in his case the ball looks fuzzy--perhaps meant to
be a hay bale?
<<Although none of the color plates duplicates a b&w shot, none of them
shows an otherwise unpictured character. There's an otherwise unpictured
place in the color plate of the disappeared VIPs asleep at the bottom of
Thunder Lake.>>
In this image opposite page 244, Jinnicky and perhaps the Wizard are
smiling while the Tin Woodman seems to be grimacing. Though the tin man's
features aren't very flexible, Neill was certainly capable of drawing him
with a happier expression (see, for instance, page 279). Is he, even in his
magic-induced coma, worried about rusting?
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Tue Apr 16, 2002 10:16 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE mysteries
Thompson's author's note for WISHING HORSE begins by saying, "What could be
more interesting than an Oz mystery? 'Why,' I can almost hear you shout,
'Two Oz mysteries.' And here you have them in this newest Oz story, two
very mysterious mysteries to solve and ponder over..." Thompson never
really defines these mysteries, however, and WISHING HORSE is certainly not
set up like a mystery story. What happened to Oz is a mystery to Dorothy,
but not to the readers--we know not only who is behind it, but also his
motive and his means. When Dorothy DOES find out what happened, it is not
through gathering clues and making deductions, but through the mental powers
of Bitty Bit. How the necklaces work could possibly be seen as a "mystery,"
since it is not revealed until the end of the book, but, once again, there
are no real clues, and a magical being (Chalk, in this case) solves the
mystery without any sleuthing. While WISHING HORSE is one of Thompson's
best Oz books, it falls flat as a mystery, let alone two mysteries.
Nathan

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Tue Apr 16, 2002 10:07 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE art
J. L. Bell:
>99: Neill draws these Emerald City houses with street numbers, perhaps for
>the first time. They reappear in WONDER CITY.
The numbers are rather odd, as well. Why would number 10 be next door to
number 34? Also, it is interesting that Neill's numbered houses always seem
to have numbers less than 100. In the WONDER CITY illustration that shows
much of the city, there seem to only be three houses on most blocks, so the
typical system of having all of the house numbers on one block begin with
the same mulitple of one hundred might be unnecessary.
>200: Though Thompson refers to Potaroo's "straggly whiskers" [198], both
>here and in the previous color plate the Nome wizard is clean-shaven.
He also looks quite different (and younger) than in GNOME KING, although I
don't think he had whiskers in that title, either.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2002 1:09 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE art
Melody Grandy wrote:
<<> 286: It's a bit hard to make out, but Bitty Bit seems to have a right hand
> on his left side here. At least I wouldn't want to try that move at home.
Neill made that type of goof in more than one drawing.>>
Yes, I understand it's common for right-handed artists to sketch in too
many left hands, simply because they have a model so easily available. It's
just an impression, but I sensed that Neill's art for WISHING HORSE adhered
more closely to the details of Thompson's text than in many other Oz books.
But that's all relative.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2002 1:04 pm
Subject: wishing art & oz licenses
J. L. Bell: Enjoyed your art discussion -- and was tickled by the suggestion
that Potaroo's straggly dog is Whiskers. After all, why not? About the
end-image of Pigasus riding Chalk -- perhaps that's meant to suggest that
Pigasus paid a visit to Skampavia after the story's end to see how they were
getting along. (And to check on whether the memoryless Matiah was getting
into trouble? Although with Skamperoo wished into being a wise and generous
ruler, perhaps any potential problems in that situation had been easily resolved.)
KHarmonyarts at a...
wrote:
> In SBM, since magic is potentially a very dangerous thing indeed, in order
to be a legal witch, wizard, sorcerer, wizardess, or whatever, you have to
get a license from Ozma and/or Glinda. So getting a license is an option for
harmless and innocent magic workers, at least in my version of Oz. Melody
>
The references to licenses in the Oz books seem to show that the Wizard and
Glinda (and the Good Witch of the North, a little later) are the only
licensed magicians, with others either visiting non-Ozites (Jinnicky) or
unlicensed illegals staying under the radar. But it's certainly plausible
that Ozma might have lightened up in years since, as she became aware of
people like the Adepts and Wumbo who weren't doing any harm, and issued more
licenses. Lessee, they'd need a DMV (Department of Magic Vocations) to give
first a written exam and then a practical one. The written one might not
pose any special problems, but the practical one might. At the least, they'd
want a good large area clear to hold it in. Or perhaps, since orderly
character more than level of skill is the main issue, it would be more like
applying to college, and you'd have to write an essay on Good Things I Would
Do for My Community and get assorted community leaders to write Ozma letters
about what an upstanding sort you really are.
Ruth Berman

From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date: Wed Apr 17, 2002 3:29 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] WISHING HORSE art
Nathan Mulac DeHoff wrote:
> The numbers are rather odd, as well. Why would number 10 be next door to
> number 34?
Not unusual in older times and older cities, where the numbers sometimes
represented no more than the order in which the owners, two hundred
years ago, decided to give in to the postman's earnest pleas, mixed with
some owners' "good luck" choices.
> Also, it is interesting that Neill's numbered houses always seem
> to have numbers less than 100. In the WONDER CITY illustration that shows
> much of the city, there seem to only be three houses on most blocks, so the
> typical system of having all of the house numbers on one block begin with
> the same mulitple of one hundred might be unnecessary.
That "usual" is, in fact, quite modern.
Strictly speaking, of course, the Emerald City is quite young, having
been built by Oscar Diggs. But it shows no signs of 19th-century urban
planning, let alone 20th.
--
John W. Kennedy
Read the remains of Shakespeare's lost play, now annotated!

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Fri Apr 19, 2002 12:44 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE mysteries
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<Thompson's author's note for WISHING HORSE begins by saying, "What could
be more interesting than an Oz mystery? 'Why,' I can almost hear you
shout, 'Two Oz mysteries.' And here you have them in this newest Oz story,
two very mysterious mysteries to solve and ponder over..." Thompson never
really defines these mysteries, however, and WISHING HORSE is certainly not
set up like a mystery story.>>
That remark struck me as very odd, too. The best interpretation I could
make starts with Thompson writing her author's note well after finishing
the book. The note also says, "If I had the magic necklace mentioned in
this story," while the story describes three magic necklaces, showing her
memory was imperfect.
Then if Thompson were recalling the story from Dorothy's point of view, the
little girl does indeed face two big mysteries in chapters 7 and 8: What
happened to Ozma and the other rulers, and who is this Skamperoo person? As
you say, we readers are already acquainted with the new emperor, and know
that he's responsible for the others' disappearance even if we don't yet
know where they are. So there are mysteries for us to solve.
As I wrote before, I think the modern literary genre in which WISHING HORSE
fits best is the spy thriller. Dorothy and Pigasus's lonely flight across
Oz is especially reminiscent of some of the journeys John Buchan's hero
Richard Hannay makes, as in THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "charlie_the_cat_pooka" <tcp at z...>
Date: Mon Apr 22, 2002 2:23 am
Subject: Wishing Horse thoughts
Wishing Horse of Oz thoughts
Having just finished reading the story myself I come to some
interesting conclusions about the tale and how it relates to Oz.
1. Skamperoo
Skamperoo I think it was quite obviously portrayed as not a great
threat to Oz once he was defeated. The man's love of luxury was his
chief failing along with the exceptional temptation of the magical
emeralds. In probably my favorite Sherlock Holmes mystery "The Blue
Carbunkle" I believe it was Sherlock Holmes comes across a man who
had commited grand theft and let him go at the end of the story
despite Holmes almost pathological tendancy to admire the law in all
things. Skamperoo is much the same in that without his magical aid
he is more or less powerless. Furthermore with a revised kingdom of
prosperity assured by Bennty's words it's quite likely Ozma saw him
soon to be turning to Ozzian ideals....not to mention it helps to
have an enemy who is now a friend (or at least has shown you extreme
mercy in the past).
2. Oz foreign Policy
If I am to make a bizzare comparison I think of Oz filling the
position that the United States currently occupies as fairy-land with
the same "mean" reputation. While Oz does not possess a huge army
it's quite obvious that the systematic defeat of numerous powerful
countries surounding it probably has created a rather intimidating
view of it's power. Pinny Penny and Kaliko after all both advise
their rulers that the invasion of Oz is a hopeless task and one
destined to bring ruin to one's country.
However Oz doesn't seem that interested in annexation though being as
I am still working my way through the Hardenbrook downloaded stories
on my Oz CD I'm not exactly sure how successful Captain Salt's
mission is. Instead they seem determined to set up allied nations
(much like the United States) which advocate their firm and loving
rule. It's been commented that Ozma is a advocate of divine
right/hereditary monarchial rule but I'm not sure this is entirely
accurate though.
Admittadly the Petite One claims authority from being the changeling
daughter of Pastoria, the physical daughter of Lurline, and
furthermore even secured her authority by mandate from the Masses
through democratic election. Quite simply her rule is
unquestionable. However it seems that across the board in Fairyland
that the countries involved are monarchial in descent which makes
sense since aside from Greece and Rome until the United
states there wasn't much resembling elected government (though
monarchial power had been in decline some years). How much moreso
would be a land where ages can be measured in thousands of years or
immortal as opposed to a mere century at most?
I think the key buzzword for Oz is that it is not so much an advocate
of idealized systems (all monarchy, all democracy, etc) but what
makes an area most likely to be ruled justly without overmuch
problems of state. Again I make a comparison to the United States
and it's sometimes quite strange allies for this respect. Ozma could
have if she wanted installed a peace-loving ruler like the Shaggy Man
or some psychopathic (by their standards) Nome who hated wickedness
in direct control over the Nomes but the most likely result of that
would have been him being tossed in the Fiery Furnace or chopped up.
Thus Kal who is a greedy, self centered, cruel man if not quite as
bad as Ruggedo is a lip service ally to oz.
While the rather nasty retort to the young Prince's claim
in "Scarecrow of Oz" might be seen as a repudition of usurper's
rights let's not also point out that their marriage and the treatment
of hers as the truest also headed off any doubt over who was the
proper claimant.
3. Matimah
Matimah is obviously a bit more of a maelevolent creature in this
respects as the man was quite obviously willing to murder Skamperoo
for the magical emeralds. It may seem rather strange by most legal
standards but Ozma seems to discrimminate on punishment by depth of
intelligence and awareness of morality. Matimah is a much more canny
creature than Skamp and obviously capable of much more evil power
given time to figure it out. Furthermore while Skamp was taught that
being a great conquerer was a good thing and he was only following
his ancesteral need with no knowledge of war or suffering
beyond whining Matimah seems likely to have commited several crimes
hence including possibly torturing the Kitchen Boy
As for Oz's practice of "enforced" amnesia as a punishment in Oz
it's
not necessarily as bad as one might think. The effect seems
remarkably effective on mortals (we know it worked on King Oz in
Paradox in Oz forever) and a certain wicked apprentice in the Magic
of Oz. Dave furthermore had a wonderful explanation about why
Ruggedo regained his memory as well even as he became evil all on his
own again the first time he lost his memory. It's not that inhumane
a punishment either when with the immortality of Oz making
sure that a decade or two lost of life is quickly recovered.
3. The Wish
In this case it's a matter of specifics regarding the wish's power in
my mind. I suspect if someone were to wish "I wish the entire
country of Oz would wink out of existence" then unfortunately
"poof"
it would go and the same probably for the entire universe unless
there's a fail-safe system built by people who can see the future to
stop people who'd do this (Like the red beard incident). If Dorothy
had wished for "I wish whatever it was that was endangering Oz to be
destroyed" then it probably would have blasted the emeralds to bits
or "I wish Oz to be protected from X". Instead Dorothy
wished a vague one and the wish instead let her keep her memory and
as Oz royalty probably keep her from teleporting.
4. Gloma the Black Witch
This is something that strikes me just a wee bit about Glinda the
Good Witch of the North in that they really are a rather hubris
ridden breed witches. It does make me question though why Gloma
would be so terrified though of Dorothy when the Wicked Witches were
quite simply already the nastiest group in the Ozzy lands. You'd
think that Gloma would be hiding something herself. It makes me
think there is more story to tell with perhaps some dark secret or
shame that she was hiding especially when the kiss should
have tipped her off that there was something not unpleasant about this
little girl. Perhaps Gloma was a former ally of the witches or unlike
Glinda or Tattypooh decided not to fight them.
More disturbing in my opinion is that Dorothy was willing to blast
the witch with a pale of water in self defense. The life laws in this
region are pretty slippery nowadays with the Mombi and Gloma
whacking. My guess is that is probably the reason Dorothy was so
forgiving.
5. Chalk
I'm reminded of a weird statement that even Hitler had a dog. Now to
add an Ozian variant on that I'm sure that if Hitler had a Dog he'd
wear a SS uniform. Yes indeed we can blame Chalk for his loyalty to
Scamp because despite Dorothy being loyal to Ozma she is also loyal
to the ideals of Oz. Chalk may rationalize it as some much needed
rest but instead the little horse gladly put Ozes folk under the rule
of Skampy which is just horrible no matter how you look at it.
Pinny Penny's loyalty might be admired because the man deliberately
opposed all things invading Ozwise and worked for the betterment of
his country while also being a friend of Skampy but Chalk I consider
a traitor to horsemanship. As a Kentucky native you have no idea how
insulting that is.
6. The Red Eagle
While one might question Ozma's role in turning the fellow into a
harmless sparrow lacking justice we must also point out Ozma trusts
the thus far quite accurate magic of Benny bitty who has done a great
service to Oz. We might content ourselves in this respect that the
beast who had done nothing wrong was going to tear Matimah to pieces
and those three wishes it seems likely were for mischief or revenge
from the trustworthy foresight of Benny.
7. The final wishes
Well Penny obviously didn't want the job of being King and now Skamp
is as wise as the Snuggly One, that's better than any other kingdom
but one.
-Charlemagne

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Mon Apr 22, 2002 10:20 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] Wishing Horse thoughts
Charlie:
>However Oz doesn't seem that interested in annexation though being as
>I am still working my way through the Hardenbrook downloaded stories
>on my Oz CD I'm not exactly sure how successful Captain Salt's
>mission is.
He ends up being fairly successful, but most of the places he annexes are
fairly small and insignificant (with the exception of Ozamaland). Nick
Chopper's attempt to annex Stratovania in OZOPLANING is highly
unsuccessful.
>Admittadly the Petite One claims authority from being the changeling
>daughter of Pastoria, the physical daughter of Lurline, and
>furthermore even secured her authority by mandate from the Masses
>through democratic election.
That she is Lurline's daughter is your own idea. I know some other people
share it, but there's no real canonical evidence for it. She certainly has
Lurline's blessing, however.
>3. The Wish
>
>In this case it's a matter of specifics regarding the wish's power in
>my mind. I suspect if someone were to wish "I wish the entire
>country of Oz would wink out of existence" then unfortunately "poof"
>it would go and the same probably for the entire universe unless
>there's a fail-safe system built by people who can see the future to
>stop people who'd do this (Like the red beard incident). If Dorothy
>had wished for "I wish whatever it was that was endangering Oz to be
>destroyed" then it probably would have blasted the emeralds to bits
>or "I wish Oz to be protected from X". Instead Dorothy
>wished a vague one and the wish instead let her keep her memory and
>as Oz royalty probably keep her from teleporting.
That explanation causes some obvious problems, though. After Ozma obtains
the emeralds at the end of the book, couldn't she just wish that no danger
would ever threaten Oz again? Magic without limitations really doesn't work
so well.
>More disturbing in my opinion is that Dorothy was willing to blast
>the witch with a pale of water in self defense. The life laws in this
>region are pretty slippery nowadays with the Mombi and Gloma
>whacking. My guess is that is probably the reason Dorothy was so
>forgiving.
This is Pigasus' idea, and Dorothy only agrees to it reluctantly, based on
the pig's argument that it is their only chance of escape.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 23, 2002 2:22 pm
Subject: Ozma's politics
Charles Phipps wrote:
<<If I am to make a bizzare comparison I think of Oz filling the position
that the United States currently occupies as fairy-land with the same
"mean" reputation. While Oz does not possess a huge army it's quite
obvious that the systematic defeat of numerous powerful countries
surounding it probably has created a rather intimidating view of it's
power. Pinny Penny and Kaliko after all both advise their rulers that the
invasion of Oz is a hopeless task and one destined to bring ruin to one's
country.>>
Yes, it's clear that by WISHING HORSE Oz is a major power in its region,
probably the dominant nation--largely because it has both natural and
magical protection from outside threats. By Thompson's description,
however, it doesn't have a "'mean' reputation," deserved or not. Its power
and prosperity engender envy and resentment in a few people, but there's no
evidence in that book that Oz is seen as interfering in other countries'
affairs the way critics typically complain about the USA.
In fact, it's hard to identify what you mean by "the systematic defeat of
numerous powerful countries surounding [sic] it." Only one powerful
neighbor of Oz--the Nome Kingdom--has been weakened by Ozian actions.
Several smaller nations (the Mangaboos, Gargoyles, Rash) have seen
destruction or dynastic changes caused by individuals with ties to Oz, but
other rulers (Ev, Rinkitink, Menankypoo, Rash again) owe their positions to
support from the Emerald City. There's no evidence yet for a "systematic"
Ozian effort to "defeat...numerous powerful countries."
<<Oz doesn't seem that interested in annexation though being as I am still
working my way through the Hardenbrook downloaded stories on my Oz CD I'm
not exactly sure how successful Captain Salt's mission is. Instead they
seem determined to set up allied nations (much like the United States)
which advocate their firm and loving rule.>>
As you'll see when we discuss CAPTAIN SALT, it's an unabashedly imperialist
book. Salt's mission is to claim new lands for Oz. The last chapter reports:
Tandy explained how Ozamaland was now a province
and under the general rule and protection of Ozma
of Oz, how settlers from that famous fairyland
would soon arrive to help them build new cities
and towns, tame the wild jungles of the interior,
and repel the dangerous invasions of the Greys.
That's quite a change from Ozma's earlier foreign policy, especially in the
Baum books. After a brief foray into interventionism (OZMA) and
alliance-building (ROAD), she and Glinda choose an isolationist path
(EMERALD CITY). Suddenly they show little concern for their neighbors:
depriving the king of Mo of one of his wisest advisers, sending an army
bent on conquest into Ev. Though Ozma monitors friends' trips to the Nome
Kingdom (TIK-TOK, RINKITINK), she doesn't appear to initiate those missions
or throw her full power behind them.
Thompson shows Ozma and her friends exercising more influence over other
parts of the Nonestic region. Originally this comes about because Ozians
became caught up in other people's troubles (ROYAL BOOK, HUNGRY TIGER).
With PIRATES, however, Ozma starts to address problems outside Oz with the
same firmness as she uses inside its borders. CAPTAIN SALT is the
culmination of that change: full-fledged colonialism.
<<It's been commented that Ozma is a advocate of divine
right/hereditary
monarchial rule but I'm not sure this is entirely accurate though. . . .
Quite simply her rule is unquestionable. However it seems that across the
board in Fairyland that the countries involved are monarchial in descent
which makes sense since aside from Greece and Rome until the Unitedstates
there wasn't much resembling elected government (though monarchial power
had been in decline some years). How much moreso would be a land where
ages can be measured in thousands of years or immortal as opposed to a mere
century at most?>>
I'm sorry, but I'm missing the evidence that Ozma isn't an exemplar and
advocate of hereditary monarchy. You seem to be saying that many other
fairy countries in the Oz books are also hereditary monarchies. That's
accurate, especially for the Thompson books, but is either not relevant to
Ozma's choices or shows how she supports hereditary monarchies.
Baum depicts many monarchs and quasi-monarchs (High Coco-Lorum, Su-Dic),
but he also shows many communities choosing their rulers. The people of the
Emerald City chose the Wizard, the Winkies chose the Tin Woodman, the
animals of the Quadling Forest made a deal with the Lion. He plays with
different ways and criteria for choosing a ruler: Tititi-Hoochoo in
TIK-TOK, Bud in ZIXI, Trot in SKY ISLAND, Bal in TIN WOODMAN, and so on.
In fact, the number of rulers in Baum's books who attain their thrones
simply through heredity is relatively small. Even when a ruler has a
dynastic claim, like Evardo in Ev and Gloria in Jinxland, Baum often adds a
scene in which that person secures the people's consent. Ozga is actually
forced out of the Rose Kingdom because, though she has a lawful claim to
rule, she doesn't have her subjects' loyalty.
Ozma is the exception to Baum's pattern. When she first takes the throne of
the Emerald City, her authority is based entirely on heredity and conquest.
She hasn't been raised and educated to rule like Inga (though we might
decide Ozma's childhood as Tip was better preparation). There's no
indication yet of her fairy powers or background. She's the most visible
example in Baum's Oz books of a hereditary monarch.
Thompson's books, in contrast, take restoring hereditary dynasties as a
recurring goal. That's the resolution of too many plots to list. Permanent
new monarchs are usually imposed from the top: Happy Toko, Jo King. There
are few scenes of a community asking someone to rule them; when those occur
we're usually supposed to root AGAINST the choice, as with Scraps in GNOME
KING and Speedy in YELLOW KNIGHT. And Ozma is very active in restoring,
protecting, and expanding those dynasties.
That pattern is the strong evidence that Thompson's Ozma advocates
hereditary monarchy. If she's really just supporting the best system for
each community, it seems quite odd that she never champions any other way
of choosing a government, no matter what the circumstances. Does she ever
in Thompson's books depose a ruler with a hereditary claim, even a ruler
who's caused great trouble? Does she ever ask communities what sort of
government they want? I can't think of examples.
<<Admittadly the Petite One claims authority from being the
changelingdaughter of Pastoria, the physical daughter of Lurline, and
furthermore even secured her authority by mandate from the Masses through
democratic election.>>
There's no canonical evidence that Ozma was a "changeling," meaning
exchanged for a human child. There's no statement that she's a daughter of
Lurline; indeed, she describes herself simply as a member of that fairy
band, a very different relationship. And the election in WONDER CITY can't
be described as "democratic" since no one gets to choose whom to vote for
except Siko Pompus--who doesn't even seem to reside in Oz. Let's be
accurate about Ozma's history.
<<Ozma could have if she wanted installed a peace-loving ruler like the
Shaggy Man or some psychopathic (by their standards) Nome who hated
wickedness in direct control over the Nomes but the most likely result of
that would have been him being tossed in the Fiery Furnace or chopped up.
Thus Kal who is a greedy, self centered, cruel man if not quite as bad as
Ruggedo is a lip service ally to oz.>>
What evidence do we have that Nomes would regard opposing wickedness as
"psychopathic"? Guph speaks of hating happy people in EMERALD CITY, but we
mustn't assume that he's typical of all Nomes, especially when we have
Kaliko's counterexamples in TIK-TOK and "Tik-Tok and the Nome King." In
OZMA and RINKITINK Nome monarchs start out practicing a heartless
realpolitik that attracts Ozian attention, and only when they're crossed
(or hungover) do they become cross.
Nor should we ignore the Nomes' arguments that they've been wronged. Ozma
invades Roquat's kingdom years before he invades hers, and Ozians continue
to interfere in Nome business far more than the other way around. The
Emerald City is decorated with what Nomes consider their wealth, and
protected by the Magic Belt taken from Roquat/Ruggedo.
As usual, Thompson's books are less nuanced than Baum's when it comes to
politics. She's more Manichean in how she depicts good and evil, which lets
her "good" people get away with a lot. Her Nomes are more apt to try to
bash people's heads than to offer lectures on how the real world works. But
even she doesn't depict Kaliko as a more "greedy, self centered, cruel man"
than Skamperoo or other hereditary monarchs she leaves on their thrones.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue Apr 23, 2002 5:31 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Chalk
Charles Phipps wrote:
<<Yes indeed we can blame Chalk for his loyalty to Scamp because despite
Dorothy being loyal to Ozma she is also loyal to the ideals of Oz. Chalk
may rationalize it as some much needed rest but instead the little horse
gladly put Ozes folk under the rule of Skampy which is just horrible no
matter how you look at it.>>
I think it's significant that in Thompson's first description of Chalk she
says he looks around "wickedly" [44]. She uses the same adverb two pages
earlier to describe Matiah as he thinks of killing Skamperoo. Yet Chalk
seems to gain her sympathy quickly.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Wed Apr 24, 2002 1:38 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE colors
The parade in the Emerald City brings together an iridescent array of
Ozians from various regions, along with other color-coded celebrities like
the Red Jinn. Notably, when Dorothy and Pigasus leave the capital, the
people they find to help them all appear in a different palette:
* Gloma and the Black Foresters are entirely black, of course.
* Kaliko is gray, including his eyes, cobweb handkerchief, and
heart [188, 194, 196, 204].
* Bitty Bit, his clothing, his residence, and his cook are all
brown, with tan and yellow highlights [231, 236-240].
Black, gray, and brown are three common colors that don't appear on the
rainbow because they're mixtures of pure forms of light radiation and no
light at all. The trouble in WISHING HORSE begins with a trio of sparking
emerald necklaces. It takes muted colors (particularly a pinch of black
powder and a seer in a brown study) to restore the brighter order of life
in Oz.
Black has a special resonance in WISHING HORSE, furthermore, probably
because in American usage it was also the term for a racial group. "What
has color to do with it?" Pigasus demands on page 150, but Thompson's
descriptions show that color has great meaning. He and Dorothy are not only
both pink, but blue-eyed [150]. Yet when General Blotz plunges them into an
inky bath, they act as if they've been horribly harmed.
Thompson has used the idea of a skin-coloring bath before: it's
Pumperdink's typical form of punishment. In KABUMPO and PURPLE PRINCE she
uses the sight of adults being dipped and dyed purple for comic effect.
Pompus threatens Randy with that punishment, too, but it's presented only
as an embarrassment, not a disability.
In contrast, becoming black strikes Dorothy and Pigasus as a terrible fate.
As soon as Dorothy sees her new skin color, she "began to weep bitterly"
[154], and she continues to cry for two more pages. When was the last time
Dorothy cried in the Oz books? Perhaps as far back as WIZARD! And Thompson
ties Dorothy's reaction directly to her blackness--it's not said to be
delayed sadness over losing Ozma or frustration at becoming a prisoner,
it's because she sees that even her tongue is black.
Dorothy complains, "No one will know us anymore" [155], but Thompson never
mentions that as a problem for people dipped purple. The book assures us
Dorothy "was still a princess, even though she was black"--implying that
for some people blackness might mean otherwise [155-6]. There's a clear
implication that people seeing Dorothy in her colored state wouldn't be
able to see past her blackness.
The threat of enslavement hangs over Dorothy at the same time: Blotz
suggests that Dorothy will become "a splendid slave" [152]. Pigasus's
indignant protests then and Dorothy's later insistence, "She wouldn't dare
make me a slave" [158], signal to us that enslavement isn't a fair fate for
a (fair?) girl like Dorothy. Yet in both earlier and later books Thompson
casually mentions slaves in Oz and friendly neighboring countries--almost
all of them dark-skinned "blacks." Though in WISHING HORSE Thompson never
connects blackness and enslavement, there may be an implicit link.
It takes a while for Dorothy to realize, "maybe there's no harm in being
black" [168]. She's even able to say, when "she did not want to hurt
Gloma's feelings," that "black is a perfectly beautiful color" [179]. Some
of Thompson's best descriptive writing in her Oz books is her picture of
Gloma's ebon realm.
Nonetheless, Thompson also assures us that the Black Foresters weren't born
black, and Dorothy's response to Gloma's remark, "I turned myself and my
subjects as black as you now see us," is "What a shame! What a pity!"
[176]. Despite her characters' declarations that black can be beautiful,
Thompson and her version of Dorothy still seem to assume that black skin is
very unfortunate.
Charles Phipps wrote:
<<More disturbing in my opinion is that Dorothy was willing to blast the
witch with a pale of water in self defense. The life laws in this region
are pretty slippery nowadays with the Mombi and Gloma whacking. My guess
is that is probably the reason Dorothy was so forgiving.>>
As Nathan DeHoff pointed out, Pigasus has the idea of liquidating Gloma,
and Dorothy agrees reluctantly. Thompson is clear about what makes Dorothy
sympathetic to Gloma, especially when compared to the unknown "witch" she
spots in COWARDLY LION and immediately wets down. The little girl says,
"Gloma seems really good and beautiful" [169]. Thompson later confirms,
"the Queen's dark beauty had made a deep and lasting impression" on Dorothy
[178].
According to Thompson, Dorothy assumes that a good-looking person must be
good. Dorothy even starts thinking Gloma might be nice because "her name
sounds rather pretty" [156]. Similarly, Dorothy begins to change her mind
about General Blotz because "he is not bad looking at all" [156]. Thompson
writes that Gloma looks "much more like a Queen than a witch," as if one
could tell both queens and witches by sight [159]. This pattern of
statements maintains Thompson's usual linkage (especially in females) of
traditional beauty with goodness.
Charles Phipps wrote some other things about Gloma that might contain a lot
of insight if only I could understand what they say:
<<4. Gloma the Black Witch
This is something that strikes me just a wee bit about Glinda the Good
Witch of the North in that they really are a rather hubris ridden breed
witches. . . . >>
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Thu Apr 25, 2002 3:44 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Nomes
Charles Phipps wrote:
<<Kaliko is a brutally pragmatic Nome. He is shown in Wishing Horse as a
man who frankly is willing to kowtow to the shuffle of the Ozma cute
widdle shoes but has no real loyalty to the ideals of Oz. Furthermore as
Rinkitink shows along with it he is a man who prefers to work within the
laws rather than break it we must ask ourselves how quickly he would
change his mind with the Wishing Belt.>>
Earlier you called Kaliko "a greedy, self centered, cruel man." You said
that any "Nome who hated wickedness" would be deemed "psychopathic (by
their standards)." That's quite different from calling Kaliko "pragmatic."
(I'm not sure what you mean by "brutally pragmatic," but it would be
difficult to make the argument that Kaliko behaves "brutally" most of the
time.)
Yes, Kaliko in WISHING HORSE in duplicitous in his dealings with Dorothy:
he puts onf a friendly face but offers only a little aid and celebrates
Ozma's downfall as soon as the princess leaves. Why he should have "real
loyalty to the ideals of Oz" when he's not a citizen of Oz is beyond
me.
At the same time, we don't need to imagine Kaliko wearing the Magic Belt
(not "Wishing Belt") to see what he'd do if he had the upper hand. He DOES
have the upper hand in WISHING HORSE. He knows Dorothy has no magic, no
allies, not even a home. He could throw her in his mines if he chose to.
But he doesn't choose to. Instead, he gives her a bed, a pleasant meal,
useful knowledge, a little magic, and a picnic lunch. Oh, the brutality!
The king in RINKITINK is indeed quoted as telling Dorothy that "being
goody-goody...is contrary to their [Nomes'] natures." But only a Manichean
would therefore assume that the Nomes are inherently wicked. Kaliko clearly
isn't wicked in EMERALD CITY and TIK-TOK, and he not only survives among
the Nomes but becomes and remains their ruler for decades.
Nomes seem to be protective of their mineral wealth, prone to temper, and
happy to keep captives from the surface world. Naturally, that puts them at
odds with us humans--particularly with Ozians, who've decorated their
capital and other landmarks with jewels that the Nomes consider stolen. But
just because they're natural antagonists for Oz doesn't make the Nomes
essentially wicked.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Fri Apr 26, 2002 12:22 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Nomes
Charles Phipps wrote:
<<Kaliko is Wicked and he's as Wicked as they come.>>
That's quite a claim to make--that no one exceeds Kaliko in wickedness.
Have you read TIK-TOK, Charles? In that book, Ruggedo and Guph try to
attack Betsy and Hank, but Kaliko saves them and keeps them safe in his own
room. Yet you state that Kaliko is at least as wicked as Ruggedo and Guph.
Have you read "Tik-Tok and the Nome King"? In that story, Kaliko works for
two straight weeks to put Tik-Tok back together after the Nome King has
broken him during a tantrum. Yet you state that Kaliko is at least as
wicked as his king.
Have you read RINKITINK? In that book, as soon as God and Cor turn over the
Pingaree monarchs to Kaliko, they're set free from their chains and allowed
to be together for the first time since their capture. Yet you state that
Kaliko is at least as wicked as Gos and Cor.
<<Yes he advises the Nome King to drop his problems with Oz in Emerald City
but that's because he knows Ruggedo is irrational in this regard.
Furthermore he knows that Oz would easily defeat the Nomes in that
respect.>>
Have you read EMERALD CITY? Kaliko says nothing in that book about Oz
easily defeating the Nomes. He says only that it would be impossible to get
to Oz because of the Deadly Desert.
<<Still I can't believe you seriously believed that the only reason he
didn't lock up Dorothy in Wishing Horse and present her with a big bow in
her hair to Skampy wasn't that he was afraid Dorothy (as she always did)
managed to pull off a miracle which restored Oz to it's rightful
soverignity.>>
Have you read WISHING HORSE? The last we see of Kaliko in that book is him
cheering, "long may she [Dorothy] stay in Thunder Mountain and long
Skamperoo rule in Oz!" That would be a very odd thing to hear from someone
who's convinced Dorothy will overthrow Skamperoo.
I actually believe you have read all those books, Charles, and perhaps the
short story as well. But I don't think you remember them at all accurately.
You've decided all Nomes are completely wicked, and that otherwise harmless
form of bigotry is affecting your shaky memory of the books.
Baum and Thompson as narrators, Tititi-Hoochoo, Quox, Dorothy, Tik-Tok,
Betsy Bobbin, Ozma, and many other characters in the Oz books describe a
clear difference between Kaliko and his predecessor. If you wish to believe
that Kaliko's nevertheless "as Wicked as they come," you can cling to that
bias, but you won't find much agreement from people who've read and
remembered the books.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date: Sat Apr 27, 2002 11:23 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] Re: WISHING HORSE Nomes
J. L. Bell:
>Still I can't believe you seriously believed that the only reason he
>didn't lock up Dorothy in Wishing Horse and present her with a big
>bow in her hair to Skampy wasn't that he was afraid Dorothy (as she
>always did) managed to pull off a miracle which restored Oz to it's
>rightful soverignity.
There is no indication that Kaliko wants to make friends with Skamperoo. He
hopes Skamperoo will remain on the throne because he assumes the new Emperor
will leave him alone (and he seems to have the idea that a man will be more
likely than a woman to do so). It really seems that Kaliko does not have
any particular animosity toward Dorothy and Ozma (and TIK-TOK suggests that
his moral code would not allow him to hurt a girl), but just does not want
to be bothered.
Nathan

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Sun Apr 28, 2002 1:38 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE colors and Lookism
Melody Grandy wrote:
<<Also agree with your observations that 'blackness' in some of the Oz
books is portrayed as undesirable. Or the despicable notion that black skin
automatically makes a person 'enslaveable'. Have long had a story idea
where a spunky black girl somehow gets to Jinnicky's kingdom, and she tells
him on no uncertain terms, "I am NOT one of your slaves!">>
Sounds interesting, for another reason alongside the issues of race and
slavery: as I recall, except for a few cooks and the adder, Jinnicky's
domain appears to be entirely male.
I'm working on a short story along similar lines with Ginger as the
protagonist, eventually redefining his role as "slave of the magic dinner
bell." I believe that Ginger is the child who appears in the most Oz books
without ever being the hero or point-of-view character of even an episode.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Sun Apr 28, 2002 3:09 pm
Subject: WISHING HORSE Nomes and possibilities
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<>The last we see of Kaliko in [WISHING HORSE] is him
>cheering, "long may she [Dorothy] stay in Thunder Mountain and long
>Skamperoo rule in Oz!" That would be a very odd thing to hear from someone
>who's convinced Dorothy will overthrow Skamperoo.
Isn't Kaliko actually hoping that Ozma, not Dorothy, stay in Thunder
Mountain?>>
Both, it seems, given Shoofenwaller's remark after Dorothy's departure:
"That's the last we'll ever see of her. . . . No one has yet come back
safely from Thunder Mountain" [203]. The chamberlain may also be referring
to the hazards of Dorothy's journey. In either case, there's no sign he or
Kaliko expect Dorothy to triumph over Skamperoo.
We might ask what would have happened if a more hostile or aggressive Nome
King had responded to Dorothy's powerlessness by locking her up. (Of
course, Dorothy would have been unlikely to visit such a ruler; only
because she feels confident with Kaliko does she go to see him.)
It seems unlikely that Matiah would have stumbled onto the secret of the
emerald necklaces down in the palace's cellar. Eventually, therefore, he
might hide them, come out to confront Skamperoo, and try to make the best
deal he can to be a co-ruler or advizier. Chalk shows himself a good
deal-maker with Bitty Bit. Though the horse knows not to trust Matiah and
Matiah wouldn't trust him, they might work out some delicate balance of
power which allows them to use the emeralds. For instance, Chalk would keep
their secret to himself but only wish when all three are together, Chalk
would promise not to wish harm to Matiah, and each of the triumvirate would
keep one necklace when they're not using them. Unfortunately, jockeying for
power would probably affect how these rulers govern Oz, as the horse
vaguely looks forward to [210].
Meanwhile, the other rulers Dorothy has visited might eventually respond to
the news she brings from the Emerald City. Gloma might come out of hiding
and start to fill in the power vacuum in western Oz left by the
disappearance of Nick Chopper. With Ozma and Glinda gone, she's probably
the most powerful magic-working ruler outside the Emerald City. But if the
rulers there have the necklaces, she'd have to reach some accommodation
with them or stay in hiding.
The Nome King could eventually see an advantage in sending Skamperoo a
message that (a) the Nomes know he's a usurper; (b) they have in their
custody two popular Ozians who know this as well; (c) they have 50,000
soldiers against his one; and (d) they'd like some of those jewels back
now. Whether the Nomes' threats succeed would probably depend on whether
Chalk has managed to work out the deal with Matiah to use the necklaces,
which could keep the Nomes at bay.
Since Skamperoo's amnesia spell doesn't affect people outside Oz,
Jinnicky's subjects would eventually start to wonder where he's gone. His
overseer Gludwig may take over that realm more peacefully and successfully
than in SILVER PRINCESS.
Presumably Ato, Roger, and Captain Salt would eventually want to go back to
the Nonestic. Would their amnesia follow them there? Once Ato arrives on
Octagon Isle and his subjects ask him how he enjoyed his visit with Ozma,
what would he say? Once Roger picks up his beloved books and finds a whole
history of Oz unlike what he just believed in the Emerald City, what would
he think?
And then there's the Wizard of Wutz, whose plot in HANDY MANDY is probably
already under way. He'd presumably shift his attention from the magic tools
his agents steal in that book to the emperor's emerald necklaces.
Of course, all that's just one set of possibilities, which can't be proven.
And I haven't considered what the big eagle would do when he gets tired of
waiting for Matiah.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: Tigerbooks at a...
Date: Sun May 5, 2002 2:46 pm
Subject: One Witch, Two Witch, Black Witch, Blue Witch
In a message dated 5/5/02 11:35:36 AM Pacific
Daylight Time, scottandrewh at comcast.net writes:
In Eric's drawing in _Blue Witch_, her features seem negroid.
Well, she IS the Black Witch. Neill seems to have ignored that part of her
description. In Blue Witch her features are based on Stephanie Mills. (And if
you wonder why Mills, you're not much of an Oz fan, are you?)
Best,
Eric Shanower

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Mon May 6, 2002 10:13 am
Subject: One Witch, Two Witch, Black Witch, Blue Witch
Eric Shanower wrote:
<<> In Eric's drawing in _Blue Witch_, her features seem negroid.
Well, she IS the Black Witch. Neill seems to have ignored that part of her
description.>>
LOST KING, page 176:
"And were you always black?" inquired Pigasus, peering
inquisitively up into Gloma's face, and wondering
whether the two small black wings on each side of her
forehead were as useful as his own.
"No," admitted the Queen, smiling graciously down at
her plump questioner. "That was part of our disappearing
plan, in a dark forest we were so much less likely to be
found or discovered, so with my knowledge of the black
art I turned myself and my subjects as black as you now
see us."
"What a shame! What a pity!" Dorothy jumped up and perched
cozily on the arm of the Black Queen's chair. "If you had
just come to the Emerald City, we could have been friends
all this while."
Given the context of his time, I think Neill correctly read Thompson to
mean Gloma and her subjects were originally "normal" in skin tone for
contemporary American readers--i.e., "white"--and then colored black
without affecting their other features. Judging by his pictures of Ginger,
Gludwig, the mud women in YELLOW KNIGHT, and other non-Caucasian
dark-skinned characters, Neill might even have had difficulty depicting a
beautiful black woman.
But it's more pleasant to imagine the Black Foresters were normal for
themselves or humanity as a whole, and therefore pink, tan, bronze, and/or
the browns that Americans still call "black."
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: Tigerbooks at a...
Date: Mon May 6, 2002 4:58 pm
Subject: Re: [Nonestica] One Witch, Two Witch, Black Witch, Blue Witch
In a message dated 5/6/02 11:04:34 AM Pacific
Daylight Time, JnoLBell at compuserve.com writes:
Given the context of his time, I think Neill correctly read Thompson to
mean Gloma and her subjects were originally "normal" in skin tone for
contemporary American readers--i.e., "white"--and then colored black
without affecting their other features. Judging by his pictures of Ginger,
Gludwig, the mud women in YELLOW KNIGHT, and other non-Caucasian
dark-skinned characters, Neill might even have had difficulty depicting a
beautiful black woman.
Dear J.L.,
Thompson's intent seems pretty obvious--Gloma and her followers used to be
caucasian. But I was always disappointed that Neill didn't draw the black
forest people as colored black. Even in the color plate, Gloma is mostly blue
and green. What's that all about?
By basing Gloma on Stephanie Mills, I was trying to integrate Oz to some
extent. I had previously been approached by black people who asked me when I
was going to draw black Oz characters. I felt that drawing Gloma (a
black-colored woman) to look like Stephanie Mills (an African-American woman
with a well-known Oz connection) was a more honest-to-Oz means to integrate Oz
than making up a new character from the Outside World who happened to be black
just for the sake of being black. Racism is objectionable, but so is tokenism.
I hope my version of Gloma avoided tokenism and gave readers a moment of
amusement.
Best,
Eric Shanower

From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date: Tue May 7, 2002 10:09 am
Subject: One Witch, Two Witch, Black Witch, Blue Witch
Eric Shanower wrote:
<< I was always disappointed that Neill didn't draw the black forest people
as colored black. Even in the color plate, Gloma is mostly blue and green.
What's that all about?>>
The Black Forest episode does seem to challenge Neill, even in his line art
(I don't know how much of the coloring he did). His first image on page 147
is totally "black" with speech bubbles. After Dorothy and Pigasus are
dunked he takes care to show their coloration with hatching in almost every
image. But you're right, he never applies the same lines to General Blug or
Gloma. On page 177 he seems to be trying to indicate radiation from the
black crystal by casting light on the front of the queen's face, but
there's no such artistic reason to make Gloma so pale on page 159.
<<By basing Gloma on Stephanie Mills, I was trying to integrate Oz to some
extent. I had previously been approached by black people who asked me when
I was going to draw black Oz characters. I felt that drawing Gloma (a
black-colored woman) to look like Stephanie Mills (an African-American
woman with a well-known Oz connection) was a more honest-to-Oz means to
integrate Oz than making up a new character from the Outside World who
happened to be black just for the sake of being black. Racism is
objectionable, but so is tokenism. I hope my version of Gloma avoided
tokenism and gave readers a moment of amusement.>>
I agree that simply sending a person of color from the Great Outside World
to Oz feels like an incomplete response to the Nonestic world's seeming
lack of tonal variety. There seem to be at least five other ways for new Oz
authors and artists to depict people of different skin tones and facial
features in the Nonestic world:
* Ensure people of color appear in communities there, as in Anna
Marie Cool's Huffin Puffin in HIDDEN PRINCE.
* Add self-contained communities of color--such communities fit in
the traditional Oz geography and would explain why such people haven't been
seen before, but also have echoes of segregation or apartheid.
* Depict existing characters with non-Caucasian features, like your
Gloma. Would it matter if the Shaggy Man and his brother were black?
* Tell new stories that better humanize existing non-white human
characters, like Happy Toko or Ginger.
* Adopt the WONDER CITY vision of Oz having people of many skin
tones, which carries an implicit message.
None of these approaches is exclusive of others, of course.
Your comments on Stephanie Mills bring up a new question: Are others of
your Oz depictions based on real people in the Great Outside World? No need
to name names, just a curious question about how you go about finding
faces.
J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From: Scott Andrew Hutchins <scottandrewh at c...>
Date: Fri Jun 14, 2002 12:28 am
Subject: WISHING HORSE
I read the first 150 pages last night and, despite a few egregious errors (like the
Woozy described as "made of wood") and one I discovered
earlier and can't remember, I'm quite impressed. Skamperoo is a great
role for Marlon Brando. It reads like one of those ubiquitous Oz is
conquered plots, only done well (and in continuity!). How common was the
misplaced reality idea in 1935? It seems rather commonplace now, but such
things I find more easily forgivable the earlier a work is. It seems like
every kids' show and most SF shows has done an ep. where only one
character realizes something isn't right. Guinan in "Yesterday's
Enterprise" was a twist in that she didn't know any details, but somehow
this seems like a 20th century device. Done to death but somehow fresh in
this context.
Scott
Andrew Hutchins
Examine
The Life of Timon of Athens at Cracks in the Fourth Wall Theatre &
Filmworks
"To destroy an offender cannot benefit society so much as to redeem
him." --L. Frank Baum, _The Flying Girl_, 1911